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Concerts International and The Memphis Chamber Music Society present the Juilliard String Quartet at Crosstown Theater in collaboration with Crosstown Arts.
Crosstown Theater
Sunday, February 12, 2023
Show at 3 pm
Tickets: $55 General Admission | $10 student tickets
Program:
Beethoven, String Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135
Ravel, Quartet in F Major
Dvořák, String Quartet No. 14 in A-flat Major, Op. 105
“The Juilliard String Quartet can plausibly be called the most important American quartet in history. … Some groups seem to wrestle with their past and legacy; the Juilliard seems completely revitalized. … It may be just hitting its stride.” — The Boston Globe
With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring. Each performance of the Juilliard String 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.
Molly Carr joins the JSQ as violist in May 2022 — following in the footsteps of her late mentor, Roger Tapping — to close out the 2021-22 season, which marks the Juilliard String Quartet’s 75th anniversary. Performances of the season include cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Detroit as well as a European tour including stops in Berlin, Dresden, and Essen. A special highlight of the upcoming 2022-23 season is the premiere of two string quartets by celebrated German composer Jörg Widmann to perform alongside late quartets by Beethoven.
Adding to its celebrated discography, an album of works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Dvořák was released by Sony Classical in April 2021 to critical acclaim. Additionally, Sony Masterworks released a JSQ catalog release (The Early Juilliard Recordings) in June 2021. In the fall of 2018, the JSQ released an album on Sony featuring the world premiere recording of Mario Davidovsky’s Fragments (2016), together with Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 95 and Bartók’s Quartet No. 1. Additionally, Sony Classical’s 2014 reissue of the Juilliard Quartet’s landmark recordings of the first four Elliott Carter String Quartets along with the 2013 recording of Carter’s fifth quartet traces a remarkable period in the evolution of both the composer and the ensemble. The quartet’s recordings of the Bartók and Schoenberg Quartets, as well as those of Debussy, Ravel and Beethoven, have won Grammy Awards, and in 2011 the JSQ became the first classical music ensemble to receive a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Devoted master teachers, the members of the Juilliard String Quartet offer classes and open rehearsals when on tour. The JSQ is string quartet in residence at The Juilliard School and its members are all sought-after teachers on the string and chamber music faculties. Each May, they host the five-day internationally recognized Juilliard String Quartet Seminar. During the summer, the JSQ works closely on string quartet repertoire with Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center.
About the Artists:
Areta Zhulla | 1st Violin
Praised by the critics for her “rare emotional sensitivity and internal articulation,” Greek violinist Areta Zhulla has gained recognition as a passionate and poetic artist. She has been recently named “Young Artist of the Year” by the National Critics Association in Greece and is a recipient of the prestigious Triandi Career Grant as well as the Tassos Prassopoulos Foundation Award. In 2018, Ms. Zhulla joined the Juilliard String Quartet as their first violinist and serves on the violin and chamber music faculties at The Juilliard School.
Ms. Zhulla has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Arts Centre of Canada. Ms. Zhulla was a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center, where she performed and toured regularly with some of today’s most acclaimed artists. Memorable collaborations include performances with Itzhak Perlman at Carnegie Hall, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, as well as collaborations with legendary conductor Michel Plasson, Pinchas Zukerman, Gary Hoffman, Gilbert Kalish, Colin Carr, and members of the Cleveland, Emerson, and Cavani String Quartets. Her performances have been broadcast on PBS “Live from Lincoln Center,” The Kennedy Center Honors, and on WQXR, among other radio stations throughout the world.
A passionate educator, Ms. Zhulla has served as teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman at Juilliard for the past two years. She is on the violin and chamber music faculties at Juilliard’s Pre-College division, and serves as chamber music faculty at the prestigious Perlman Music Program, of which she is an alumna. Ms. Zhulla is Artistic Director of the newly formed Perlman-Genesis Violin Project, a series of workshops at the Tel-Aviv Conservatory in Israel.
Ms. Zhulla holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in New York City, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, and was a recipient of the Vergotis Scholarship. Other teachers include Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec, and her father, Lefter Zhulla.
Ronald Copes | Violin
Praised by audiences and critics alike for his insightful artistry, violinist Ronald Copes has received international acclaim as concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Having appeared as a featured performer in the Marlboro, Tanglewood, Bermuda, Cheltenham, Colorado and Olympic music festivals, Mr. Copes has toured extensively with Music From Marlboro ensembles, the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir Piano Quartets, and, since 1997, with the Juilliard String Quartet in concerts throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and North America. During the 2011-13 seasons, he and Seymour Lipkin performed cycles of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and the Juilliard School.
He has recorded numerous solo and chamber music works for radio and television broadcast as well as for labels including Sony Classical, Orion, CRI, Klavier, Bridge, New World Records, ECM and the Musical Heritage Society. Devoting considerable energy to the development and presentation of contemporary string literature, he has worked closely with composers including Stephen Hartke and Donald Crockett, and has given the first performances of solo and chamber works by Stephen Dembski and Robert Kraft, among others. With the New York New Music Ensemble, he recorded Ralph Shapey’s Three for Six, and was presented in solo recital by the International Society of Contemporary Music in New York.
Mr. Copes has garnered prizes in several national and international competitions including the Artists’ Advisory Council International Competition, the Merriweather Post Competition and the Concours International d’Exécution Musicale in Geneva. For two decades, he served as Professor of Violin at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and, in 1997, joined the faculty of The Juilliard School, where he serves as chair of the violin department. With the JSQ and individually, Mr. Copes has coached string quartets and given master classes at Juilliard, Tanglewood and on tour. During the summer he is on the artist-faculty of the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival.
Molly Carr | Viola
Violist Molly Carr enjoys a diverse musical career as recitalist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. Hailed as “one of the most interesting interpreters of the viola today” (Codalario Spain) and praised for her “intoxicating” (The New York Times) and “ravishing” (The Strad) performances, she has been the recipient of numerous international awards, including the Primrose International Viola Competition, Chamber Music America, ProMusicis Foundation, and the Davidson Institute. In 2018, she was honored at the United Nations for her work with refugees, named by the Sandi Klein Show as one of America’s leading “Creative Women,” and awarded the ProMusicis International Father Eugène Merlet Award for Community Service for her work in prisons as the Founding Director for Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit which brings free chamber music performances and interactive programming to marginalized populations with limited ability to access the Arts themselves. Her performances have taken her across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as on PBS, CNN, NPR, and BBC World News. She is the violist of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Carr-Petrova Duo, and serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and Bard College Conservatory.
Astrid Schween | Cello
Cellist Astrid Schween has gained a rich following and enjoys a varied career as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. Since joining the Juilliard String Quartet in 2016, she has appeared at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Wigmore Hall, Yamaha Hall in Tokyo, and in Hong Kong, Singapore, Greece, China, Spain, Scandinavia and throughout the US, with concerts at the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, New York’s 92nd Street Y, Ravinia, Tanglewood and the Kennedy Center. With degrees from the Juilliard School, Astrid Schween received her training under the guidance of Leonard Rose, Harvey Shapiro, Bernard Greenhouse, Ardyth Alton and Dr. H.T. Ma, and was mentored as a young cellist by Jacqueline Du Pré and Zubin Mehta. She participated in the Marlboro Music Festival, the William Pleeth Cello Master Classes in Aldeburgh and made her debut at the age of 16 with the New York Philharmonic.
This season, Astrid Schween will appear as soloist-special guest artist at the Violoncello Society of New York, Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Cleveland Cello Society, Gather NYC, Aronson Cello Festival and in Minneapolis at the 20th Biennial Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference. In the spring, she will host a special event in honor of the Guarneri String Quartet at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other recent solo engagements have taken her around the US, with a performance of the Elgar Concerto in Boulder, CO last season and performances with the Memphis Symphony and at the Peninsula, Interlochen and Sewanee festivals. Astrid Schween was recently featured in Strings and Strad magazines, on various NPR programs, and was a guest speaker on Women in Music at the Library of Congress. She also appears on classical music internet platforms such as “Living the Classical Life,” The Violin Channel and CelloBello. Her current collaborations include frequent appearances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, recitals with pianists Victor Asuncion, Randall Hodgkinson and a soon-to-be-released CD of Romantic cello sonatas with pianist Michael Gurt. Recent collaborative releases appear on the Sony, Centaur and JRI labels.
Astrid Schween is a member of the cello faculty at Juilliard and the Perlman Music Program on Shelter Island. She was for many years, senior cello faculty at Interlochen, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Mount Holyoke College. She was also cellist of the Boston Trio, a frequent guest with the Boston Chamber Music Society and a longtime member of the Lark Quartet, with whom she earned the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lockenhaus, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and other prestigious venues. Additional recordings appear on the Arabesque, Decca/Argo, New World, CRI and Point labels. She is represented by Thomas Gallant of General Arts Touring.
