China's first lady Peng Liyuan arrives at The Juilliard School in New York City on Sept 28. It's been 10 years since the first lady took the opera Mulan to be performed at the famous conservatory. [Photo by Ma Zhancheng/Xinhua]

After the performances, Polisi made an announcement that he had been saving for the special day: Juilliard will open its first campus outside New York in Tianjin, China.

Peng and Polisi unveiled the name of the new branch: The Tianjin Juilliard School.

The new school is expected to open in 2018 in a new facility at the Yujia Pu district, where the city of Tianjin is planning to develop the area into a finance, innovation and cultural hub, like "the next Pudong of Shanghai," said Polisi.

Years ago the Juilliard board decided that the school should evolve from a school with many international students at its New York campus to a global school with an expanded footprint, providing educational activities and performances to the world.

Seeking opportunities in China, Brazil and Mexico at the same time, Juilliard was welcomed immediately in China. The city of Tianjin approached Juilliard in 2011 and offered very supportive conditions and partnerships, so Juilliard joined hands with the Tianjin Conservatory of Music, the Tianjin Binhai New Area CBD Administrative Commission and the Tianjin Innovative Finance Investment Company (TIFI) for the new project.