The Juilliard String Quartet

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Biography

Joel Smirnoff, violin
Ronald Copes, violin
Samuel Rhodes, viola
Joel Krosnick, cello

The Juilliard String Quartet is internationally renowned and admired for performances characterized by a clarity of structure, beauty of sound, purity of line and an extraordinary unanimity of purpose. Celebrated for its performances of works by composers as diverse as Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók and Elliott Carter, it has been recognized for more than 50 years as the quintessential American string quartet.

The 2005-2006 season brought return visits to the Ravinia, and Tanglewood festivals, followed by a West Coast tour, which once again includes a pair of concerts presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall. Immediately thereafter, the quartet returned to Lincoln Center in New York to play the world premiere of Ezequiel Viñao's Quartet II, "The Loss and the Silence," commissioned for them by the Juilliard School in honor of its 2006 centennial. In its fall tour of Europe, the Juilliard Quartet was joined again by famed oboist Heinz Holliger for performances in Italy, Holland, Warsaw and Paris. In a second concert in Paris, the quartet made a special appearance to play its own arrangement of Bach's "Art of the Fugue." The quartet returned to Europe in the 2nd half of the season to Germany, Spain, Estonia, and Austria where they celebrated the 250th Mozart birthday at the Musikverien in Vienna on January 27 in a concert with Emmanuel Ax. Further touring in America included their annual concerts in Boston, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia and San Francisco, as well as performances in the Midwest, Canada and New England. The quartet was a featured artist in a "Live From Lincoln Center" telecast in the Juilliard School's centennial gala program in the spring.

In 2004-2005, the Juilliard Quartet toured the United States in a program with Heinz Holliger and, under the aegis of the Library of Congress, visited three noted Southern California musical institutions for a series of Library sponsored free concerts and master classes; the Arts and Lectures program at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

In 2003 the quartet marked the celebration of its 40th anniversary as Quartet in Residence at the Library of Congress in Washington with a 12-concert complete Beethoven cycle interspersed with works by American composers whose works the quartet has championed throughout its existence. Succeeding the Budapest Quartet in 1962, the Juilliard Quartet acquired a devoted following in Washington where they performed on a set of priceless Stradivari instruments which were donated to the Library in 1936 by Mrs. Gertrude Clarke Whittall.

The 2003-2004 season also included a round of summer festivals, followed by tours across the United States, Canada and Europe. The ensemble presented several concerts in New York, including a performance at the Mostly Mozart Festival, two concerts at Alice Tully Hall on the Juilliard School's faculty series, chamber music at the 92nd Street Y, and a concert in the opening season of Carnegie Hall's new Zankel Hall. In May, the ensemble was honored with the Gold Medal of the National Arts Club at its 48th Annual Dinner.

Special events of recent seasons included a week of concerts and master classes at the University of Southern California, and an Art of the Fugue marathon at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where they performed the Bach masterwork three times in two days. At Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard Quartet appeared in the Hall's 100th anniversary gala, and in Maurizio Pollini's "Perspectives" series with pianist Martha Argerich. The Juilliard's played the opening concert in the Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood and are the lead-off artists in the recent 10th anniversary recording celebrating Ozawa Hall where they appear annually. They have been frequent guests at the Miyazaki Festival in Japan and at festivals in Europe including the Lucerne Festival and the Schubertiade in Feldkirch. The Juilliard Quartet has played complete seven-concert Beethoven cycles at Alice Tully Hall in New York, Casals Hall in Tokyo, at Michigan State University, and most recently, at the International Beethoven Festival in Bonn and at the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf. In a departure from the classical norm, the Juilliard Quartet has twice been the featured ensemble - comedic and musical - on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio show.

As Quartet in Residence at New York City's Juilliard School, the Juilliard String Quartet is widely admired for its seminal influence on aspiring string players around the world. The Quartet continues to play an important role in the formation of new American ensembles, and was instrumental in the formation of the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, La Salle, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, St. Lawrence and Colorado string quartets.

In a momentous occasion at Tanglewood in 1997, the Juilliard String Quartet's founder and first violinist Robert Mann retired from the group after 50 years. Earlier that season, Musical America named the Quartet "Musicians of the Year," making it the first chamber music ensemble ever to appear on the cover of the publication's annual International Directory of the Performing Arts.

In its history, the Juilliard String Quartet has performed a comprehensive repertoire of some 500 works, ranging from the great classical composers to masters of the current century. It was the first ensemble to play all six Bartók quartets in the United States, and it was through the group's performances that the quartets of Arnold Schöenberg were rescued from obscurity. An ardent champion of contemporary American music, the Quartet has premiered more than 60 compositions of American composers, including works by some of America's finest jazz musicians. The quartet has become a persuasive advocate for the complex and visionary string quartets of Elliott Carter, and a landmark recording of those works was issued in 1991 by Sony Classical.

The ensemble has been associated with Sony Classical, in its various incarnations, since 1949. In celebration of the Quartet's 50th anniversary, Sony released seven CDs containing previously unreleased material as well as notable performances from the quartet's award-winning discography. With more than 100 releases to its credit, the ensemble is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time. Its recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets, the complete Schoenberg quartets, and the Debussy and Ravel string quartets have all received Grammy Awards. Inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences in 1986 for its recording of the complete Bartók string quartets, the Juilliard Quartet was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize in 1993 for Lifetime Achievement in the recording industry. In 1994, its recording of quartets by Ravel, Debussy, and Dutilleux was chosen by the Times of London as one of the 100 best classical CDs ever recorded.

Joel Smirnoff, violin
Violinist Joel Smirnoff is a native of New York City and has been a member of the quartet since 1986, and the ensemble's leader since 1997. Formerly the group's second violinist, Mr. Smirnoff attended the University of Chicago and the Juilliard School and was a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for six years. Second-prize winner in the International American Music Competition in 1983, he made his New York recital debut in 1985 at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Smirnoff has participated in the world premiere of numerous contemporary works, many of which were composed for him. He is chair of the violin department at the Juilliard School, and pursues an active career as a conductor, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Ronald Copes, violin
In 1997 violinist Ronald Copes joined the ensemble as second violinist and was appointed to the violin faculty at the Juilliard School. Formerly a member of the Dunsmuir Piano Quartet, the Los Angeles Piano Quartet and the Audubon String Quartet, he served on the faculties of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Michigan State Universities. During the summers, he performs and teaches as the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine and has been a participant at the Bermuda, Cheltenham, Colorado, Marlboro and Olympic music festivals. He has also appeared in solo recitals across the United States and in Europe. Born in Arkansas, Mr. Copes studied at the Oberlin Conservatory with David Cerone and at the University of Michigan with Paul Makanowitzky.

Samuel Rhodes, viola
Violist Samuel Rhodes , a New York native, appears in recitals and as orchestral soloist in addition to his activities as a composer and teacher. Celebrating his 36th season as violist of the Juilliard String Quartet and faculty member and chair of viola at the Juilliard School, he is also associated with the Marlboro Festival and Tanglewood. Mr. Rhodes' solo appearances have included recitals at the Library of Congress, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, the Juilliard School and Columbia University's Miller Theater. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens College and an Master of Fine Arts degree from Princeton University where he studied composition with Roger Sessions and Earl Kim. Other teachers include Sydney Beck and Walter Trampler.

Joel Krosnick, cello
Born in Connecticut to a family of enthusiastic amateur musicians, Joel Krosnick has been cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet since 1974. With pianist Gilbert Kalish, his sonata partner of more than 20 years, he performs annual recitals at the Merkin and Weill Halls in New York, and has recorded much of the sonata repertoire including the complete Beethoven Sonatas and Variations and works by Poulenc, Prokofiev, Carter, Debussy, Janácek, Shapey, Cowell and Hindemith. Mr. Krosnick's principal teachers were William D'Amato, Luigi Silva, Jens Nygaard and Claus Adam, whom he succeeded in the Juilliard Quartet. While at Columbia University, he began his lifelong commitment to contemporary music and has performed and premiered many new works including Donald Martino's Cello Concerto, Richard Wernick's Cello Concerto No. 2 and several works by Ralph Shapey. Appointed to the faculty of the Juilliard School in 1974, Mr. Krosnick has been chair of the cello department since 1994. He has been associated with the Aspen and Marlboro music festivals, the Tanglewood Music Center, Yellow Barn and Kneisel Hall in Maine.