Stir: Focused on authenticity, Juilliard String Quartet comes to Vancouver
Quirkiness and emotion characterize the venerated ensemble’s concert program, with epic works by Beethoven and Widmann
YOU COULD SAY that violist Molly Carr is under just a little bit of pressure as the newest member of Juilliard String Quartet. After all, the ensemble celebrating its 75th anniversary this year is, according to The Boston Globe, “the most important American quartet in history”.
Mind you, the recitalist, chamber musician, and educator has been described as “one of the most interesting interpreters of the viola today” (Codalario Spain), praised for performances that are “intoxicating” (The New York Times) and “ravishing” (The Strad). Carr has been recognized at the United Nations for her work with refugees and honoured for her work in prisons as the founding director of Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit that brings free chamber music performances to marginalized populations with limited access to the arts.
Stir
By Gail Johnson
Quirkiness and emotion characterize the venerated ensemble’s concert program, with epic works by Beethoven and Widmann
YOU COULD SAY that violist Molly Carr is under just a little bit of pressure as the newest member of Juilliard String Quartet. After all, the ensemble celebrating its 75th anniversary this year is, according to The Boston Globe, “the most important American quartet in history”.
Mind you, the recitalist, chamber musician, and educator has been described as “one of the most interesting interpreters of the viola today” (Codalario Spain), praised for performances that are “intoxicating” (The New York Times) and “ravishing” (The Strad). Carr has been recognized at the United Nations for her work with refugees and honoured for her work in prisons as the founding director of Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit that brings free chamber music performances to marginalized populations with limited access to the arts.
Carr’s fellow JSQ musicians—violinist Areta Zhulla, violinist Ronald Copes, and cellist Astrid Schween—have a stunning list of accolades each their own. In stepping into her new role, Carr tries not to focus on the sky-high level of expectations associated with it.
Read more here.
Photo Credit: Erin Baiano
Strings Magazine: The Juilliard String Quartet Remains at the Nexus of Continuity and Change as it Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary
The endurance of the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) seems to offer a potent antidote to the sense of impending disruption and uncertainty that has crept into just about every aspect of musical life. This longevity shines a beacon of hope, enhancing the sense of celebration around the internationally acclaimed ensemble’s 75th anniversary this season.
Strings Magazine
By Thomas May
The endurance of the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) seems to offer a potent antidote to the sense of impending disruption and uncertainty that has crept into just about every aspect of musical life. This longevity shines a beacon of hope, enhancing the sense of celebration around the internationally acclaimed ensemble’s 75th anniversary this season.
Among the plans is a concert on November 30 at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center titled “Cavatina,” which presents a new commission series from the prolific German composer Jörg Widmann, whose work will interact with Beethovenian models. This will be juxtaposed with Beethoven’s late String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major. The ensemble will perform both finales the composer fashioned for Op. 130, including the Grosse Fuge originally intended as the capstone. This dual focus on core classic repertoire and new creation has consistently been part of the JSQ’s DNA.
Read more here.
BBC Music Magazine: Bartók • Beethoven • Dvorák: String Quartets (Juilliard String Quartet)
Bartók • Beethoven • Dvořák (5-star rating)
The Juilliard String Quartet celebrates its 75th anniversary this year– and here is the first recording with its most recent recruit, first violin Areta Zhulla. While its membership has changed over the decades, the quartet is still associated with the institution it is named after (all its members teach there), and its trademark tonal beauty, sensitively attuned ensemble and technical splendour is amply on show in this recording.
BBC Music Magazine
Jessica Duchen
Bartók • Beethoven • Dvořák (5-star rating)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 3; Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 59 No. 2 ‘Rasumovsky’; Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 ‘American’
The Juilliard String Quartet celebrates its 75th anniversary this year– and here is the first recording with its most recent recruit, first violin Areta Zhulla. While its membership has changed over the decades, the quartet is still associated with the institution it is named after (all its members teach there), and its trademark tonal beauty, sensitively attuned ensemble and technical splendour is amply on show in this recording.
Read more here.
Strings Magazine: Juilliard Quartet Reclaims Its Old Verve
Strings Magazine
Brian Wise
As it nears its 75-year anniversary, the Juilliard String Quartet could easily become the classical equivalent of an oldies rock act, trading on a faded name and reveling in past glories. Yet after several reshuffles to its lineup, the quartet appears to be finding its collective groove again, and a performance at Alice Tully Hall on December 12 drew a sizable and even boisterous audience. To read the full review, click here.
The New York Times: Juilliard String Quartet Featured in Concerts to See
The New York Times
David Allen
In a big week for the late Beethoven quartets, the storied Juilliard String Quartet plays the Op. 131, as well as the Op. 18, No. 1, and Kurtag’s “6 Moments Musicaux,” at Alice Tully Hall (Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.).
To see the complete list of concerts featured in The New York Times “7 Classical Music Concerts to See in N.Y.C. This Weekend,” click here.
WGN: The Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet plays live on WGN’s Morning News in Chicago.
WGN Morning News
Juilliard String Quartet is widely considered America's most important string quartet. With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet continues to inspire audiences around the world. They were founded in 1946 and hailed by the Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history." The Juilliard draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics while embracing the mission of championing new works. Each performance of the Juilliard Quartet is a unique experience, bringing together the four members’ profound understanding, total commitment and unceasing curiosity in sharing the wonders of the string quartet literature.
Watch them live in WGN’s studios here.
The Strad: Juilliard String Quartet Review
This was the first evening concert in the UK of the Juilliard String Quartet with its new first violinist, Areta Zhulla (it had given a lunchtime concert at Wigmore the previous day). Zhulla has clearly settled in nicely, and played in absolute musical empathy with her colleagues.
The Strad
Tim Homfray
WIGMORE HALL, 15 January 2019
This was the first evening concert in the UK of the Juilliard String Quartet with its new first violinist, Areta Zhulla (it had given a lunchtime concert at Wigmore the previous day). Zhulla has clearly settled in nicely, and played in absolute musical empathy with her colleagues.
Read more from The Strad’s April issue, available here.
Washington Post: Juilliard Quartet shows new faces, same strong voice
Decisive and uncompromising...Juilliard’s confidently thoughtful approach, rhythmic acuity and ensemble precision were on full display.
Washington Post
Patrick Rucker
"Decisive and uncompromising...Juilliard’s confidently thoughtful approach, rhythmic acuity and ensemble precision were on full display."
Classical Source: Juilliard String Quartet at Wigmore Hall
The spirit of Beethoven hung over this recital, the first evening engagement played in Britain by the new line-up of the Juilliard String Quartet – there had been given a BBC lunchtime concert the previous day, also Wigmore Hall.
Classical Source
Tully Potter
The spirit of Beethoven hung over this recital, the first evening engagement played in Britain by the new line-up of the Juilliard String Quartet – there had been given a BBC lunchtime concert the previous day, also Wigmore Hall. Of the players who were in the ensemble the last time I saw them ‘live’, only veteran Ronald Copes remains: he has been in place since 1997. Leader Areta Zhulla joined at the start of this season, vastly experienced British violist Roger Tapping in 2013 and cellist Astrid Schween in 2016. For the first time, an entity which for decades was solidly male is now split evenly between the sexes. Thus a group founded in 1946 continues to evolve…
The unusual third movement – neither a Minuet nor a Scherzo – was delightful and the Presto Finale zipped along, right up to a beautifully achieved humorous ending which brought some audible sighs of appreciation from the audience.
Read more here.
Juilliard String Quartet gets new first violin
The Juilliard String Quartet has today announced that its first violinist since 2011, Joseph Lin, will step down in September 2018 and the Greek-born Juilliard graduate Areta Zhulla will be taking over.
The Strad
The Juilliard String Quartet has today announced that its first violinist since 2011, Joseph Lin, will step down in September 2018 and the Greek-born Juilliard graduate Areta Zhulla will be taking over.
Zhulla will join existing members Ronald Copes (second violin), Roger Tapping (viola) and Astrid Schween (cello), and will also be taking a full-time position on the Juilliard faculty.
Zhulla has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Asia. She was a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center, artistic director of the Perlman-Genesis Violin Project at the Israel Conservatory, and has been on the chamber music faculties of Juilliard’s Pre-College Division and the Perlman Music Program, as well as being a teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman in Juilliard’s College and Pre-College divisions.
Read the full article here.