Juilliard String Quartet

The Juilliard String Quartet, founded in 1946, has long been renowned throughout the world for the uncompromising musicianship and emotional intensity of its performances. The Quartet is celebrated for its performances of works as diverse as the string quartets of Beethoven, Bartók, and Elliott Carter. The Juilliard String Quartet is heard annually throughout North America, e.g. in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, Louisville, Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, Pasadena, as well as in Puerto Rico and Toronto. The ensemble tours Europe every year and was heard in Paris, Rome, Vienna, Munich, Cologne and other locations. In the 1996–97 season, when the Quartet celebrated its 50th anniversary, it also toured throughout Japan.
The Juilliard String Quartet commands a comprehensive repertoire of some 500 works, ranging from compositions by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Dvoqák to works by 20th century masters. It is also one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time, with more than 100 releases to its credit. In 1986 the Quartet was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences for its recording of the complete Bartók string quartets, and in 1993 it was awarded the “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik“ (German Record Critics Award) for Lifetime Achievement in the recording industry.
All members of the Juilliard String Quartet were born and trained in America. First violinist Robert Mann was a founding member of the Quartet and made his recital debut in 1941. Joel Smirnoff, second violinist, is a former member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Violist Samuel Rhodes studied composition with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim at Princeton University. The principal teachers of cellist Joel Krosnick were William D’Amato, Luigi Silva, Jens Nygaard and Claus Adam. All four members of the Quartet are also active as teachers and soloists.
The Juilliard String Quartet, has been fascinated by the Hindemith quartets for some time. We are challenged by the depth of the musical content, the overflowing vitality, and the sophistication of compositional technique that exist in these works. We are no less intrigued by their historical context within the life of Hindemith and within the events, musical and otherwise, of the twentieth century. There is also a curious connection between the quartet and Hindemith through the two great American patronesses, Mrs. Coolidge and Mrs. Whittall. The concert series that Mrs. Whittall endowed still exists and we are the successors to the Budapest String Quartet as the quartet-in-residence at the Library of Congress having been there from 1962 to the present. The hall where we perform was endowed by Mrs. Coolidge whose foundation is still commissioning works by important composers. Coolidge Auditorium happens to be one of the finest small concert halls in the world.