Juilliard String Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music
string quartet
founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School
in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann
and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer
, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists, violist Samuel Rhodes, and cellist Joel Krosnick
. In 2010 Nick Eanet resigned from the Quartet because of health issues and was replaced by Joseph Lin
in 2011. Former second violinist, later first after Mann's retirement, Joel Smirnoff left the quartet after its 2008-2009 season to become president of the Cleveland Institute of Music
. Since the Quartet's inception in 1946, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous awards, including four Grammys and membership in the National Academy Recording Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. In February 2011, the Juilliard Quartet received the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award for its outstanding contributions to recorded classical music.
The quartet plays a wide range of classical music, and has recorded works by composers such as Beethoven
, Mendelssohn
, Bartók
, Debussy
, and Shostakovich
, while also promoting more contemporary composers such as Elliott Carter
, Ralph Shapey
, and Milton Babbitt
. It has also performed with other noted musicians such as Aaron Copland
, Yo-Yo Ma
, and Maurizio Pollini
. They have participated on the soundtrack of Immortal Beloved
movie.
The quartet began recording with Sony Classical (formerly Columbia Records
and CBS Masterworks) in 1949, and the group's discography currently numbers over 100 items, including repertoire well-traveled and unfamiliar. In 1950 the quartet made the first of at least three appearances at the Peabody Mason Concerts
in Boston. At that performance they made a world performance premiere of Martin Boykan's String Quartet of 1949. Their early 1950s recordings of the six Bartok string quartets on the Columbia Records label and various works recorded for the RCA Living Stereo label (c. 1958-1962) are particularly acclaimed.
:
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann
Robert Mann
Robert Mann is a musician, composer, and conductor.He was a founding member and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet for 52 years, and mentor to younger generations of string musicians....
and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer
Raphael Hillyer
Raphael Hillyer was an American viola soloist, teacher. Born Raphael Silverman in Ithaca, New York, his career included playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and co-founding the Juilliard String Quartet...
, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists, violist Samuel Rhodes, and cellist Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick
Joel Krosnick is an American soloist, cellist, recitalist, and chamber musician who has performed all over the world for over thirty-five years...
. In 2010 Nick Eanet resigned from the Quartet because of health issues and was replaced by Joseph Lin
Joseph Lin
-Early life:Lin was born in New York in 1978 to immigrants from Taiwan.He attended the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and later graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College while studying violin with Lynn Chang.-Career:...
in 2011. Former second violinist, later first after Mann's retirement, Joel Smirnoff left the quartet after its 2008-2009 season to become president of the Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....
. Since the Quartet's inception in 1946, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous awards, including four Grammys and membership in the National Academy Recording Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. In February 2011, the Juilliard Quartet received the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award for its outstanding contributions to recorded classical music.
The quartet plays a wide range of classical music, and has recorded works by composers such as Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
, Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, and Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
, while also promoting more contemporary composers such as Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
, Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey
Ralph Shapey was an American composer and conductor. He is well-known for his work as a composition professor at the University of Chicago, where he founded and directed the Contemporary Chamber Players...
, and Milton Babbitt
Milton Babbitt
Milton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
. It has also performed with other noted musicians such as Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, and Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini
Maurizio Pollini is an Italian classical pianist.- Biography and career :Pollini was born in Milan to the Italian rationalist architect Gino Pollini. Maurizio studied piano first with Carlo Lonati, until the age of 13, then with Carlo Vidusso, until he was 18...
. They have participated on the soundtrack of Immortal Beloved
Immortal Beloved (film)
Immortal Beloved is a 1994 film about the life of composer Ludwig van Beethoven . The story follows Beethoven's secretary and first biographer Anton Schindler as he attempts to ascertain the true identity of the Unsterbliche Geliebte addressed in three letters found in the late composer's private...
movie.
The quartet began recording with Sony Classical (formerly Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
and CBS Masterworks) in 1949, and the group's discography currently numbers over 100 items, including repertoire well-traveled and unfamiliar. In 1950 the quartet made the first of at least three appearances at the Peabody Mason Concerts
Peabody Mason Concerts
- Benefactor :The name Peabody Mason comes from Miss Fanny Peabody Mason, who until her death in 1948 was an active patron of music both in the United States and abroad. Her musical interests were piano, singing and chamber music.- Concert series premiere :...
in Boston. At that performance they made a world performance premiere of Martin Boykan's String Quartet of 1949. Their early 1950s recordings of the six Bartok string quartets on the Columbia Records label and various works recorded for the RCA Living Stereo label (c. 1958-1962) are particularly acclaimed.
First violin
- 1946 Robert MannRobert MannRobert Mann is a musician, composer, and conductor.He was a founding member and first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet for 52 years, and mentor to younger generations of string musicians....
- 1997 Joel Smirnoff
- 2009 Nick Eanet
- 2011 Joseph LinJoseph Lin-Early life:Lin was born in New York in 1978 to immigrants from Taiwan.He attended the Juilliard School Pre-College Division and later graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College while studying violin with Lynn Chang.-Career:...
Second violin
- 1946 Robert Koff
- 1958 Isidore CohenIsidore CohenFor the composer born with this name, see Isidore de LaraIsidore Cohen was a renowned chamber musician and violinist, as well as a former member of the Juilliard String Quartet and Beaux Arts Trio.Cohen began studying violin at age six, and graduated from the High School of Music and Art in...
- 1966 Earl Carlyss
- 1986 Joel Smirnoff
- 1997 Ronald Copes
Awards and recognitions
Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance has been awarded since 1959. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1959 to 1960 the award was known as Best Classical Performance - Chamber Music ...
:
- The Juilliard String Quartet for BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: The Late String Quartets (1985Grammy Awards of 1985The 27th Grammy Awards were held February 26, 1985, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1984.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
) - The Juilliard String Quartet for SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
: Quartets for StringsString quartets (Schoenberg)The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg published four string quartets, distributed over his lifetime. These were the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7 , String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10 , String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 , and the String Quartet No. 4, Op...
(Complete) (1978Grammy Awards of 1978The 20th Grammy Awards were held February 23, 1978, and were broadcast live on American television. They were hosted by folk music legend John Denver, and recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1977.- Award winners :*Record of the Year...
) - The Juilliard String Quartet for DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
: Quartet in G Minor/RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
: Quartet in F (1972Grammy Awards of 1972The 14th Grammy Awards were held March 15, 1972, and were broadcast live on television in the United States by ABC; the following year, they would move the telecasts to CBS, where they remain to this date...
) - The Juilliard String Quartet for BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
: The Six String Quartets (1966Grammy Awards of 1966The 8th Grammy Awards were held March 15, 1966. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1965.-Award winners:*Record of the Year...
) - The Juilliard String Quartet Lifetime Achievement Award (2011)
External links
- Juilliard String Quartet Juilliard String Quartet official site
- Colbert Artists Management: Juilliard String Quartet