Juilliard String Quartet

Formed at New York's Juilliard School in 1946, the Juilliard String Quartet has been in permanent residence there ever since. Founded by President William Schuman and faculty violinist Robert Mann (1920-2018), the quartet comprises Mann, second violinist Robert Koff (1919-2005), violist Raphael Hillyer (1914-2010) and cellist Arthur Winograd (1920-2010). Three years later, a first cycle devoted to Béla Bartók began, before Arnold Schönberg's quartets were released. The first change in 1955 concerned the cellist's post with Claus Adam (1917-1983), followed in 1958 by the replacement of Koff by Isidore Cohen (1922-2005), who gave way in 1966 to Earl Carlyss, while Samuel Rhodes succeeded Hillyer in 1969. Meanwhile, in 1962, the quartet took up a residency at the Library of Congress in Washington, replacing the Budapest String Quartet, and went on to record the complete Beethoven string quartets in a reference performance. Further changes came with the arrival of cellist Joel Krosnick (1941-2025) in 1974 and second violinist Joel Smirnoff in 1986. Smirnoff became first violin upon the departure of Robert Mann, the last original member, in 1997, while Ronald Copes replaced him. After thousands of concerts in some fifty countries, the quartet has forged a first-rate reputation thanks to its high-caliber cycles. Joseph Lin took over as first violin in 2011, followed by Areta Zhulla in 2018, Roger Tapping as viola in 2013, Molly Carr in 2022, and Astrid Schween as cello in 2016. Several anthologies have appeared, including The Complete Epic Recordings 1956-1966 (2018), The Complete RCA Recordings 1957-1960 (2019) and The Beethoven Quartets 1964-1970 (2020).

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