Program
Haydn: String Quartet in D major, Op. 76, No. 5
Bartók: String Quartet No. 5, Sz. 102, BB 110
Dvořák: String Quartet No. 11 in C major, Op. 61
The Juilliard String Quartet, widely known as the quintessential American string quartet, welcomed its new cellist, Astrid Schween, and celebrated its 70th anniversary during the 2016/17 season with return engagements in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Detroit, Toronto, Louisville, Cleveland, Tucson, and New York’s Alice Tully Hall. The JSQ premiered Fragments, String Quartet No. 6 by renowned Argentine-American composer Mario Davidovsky, jointly commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and the Juilliard School. The Quartet toured Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Turkey, including appearances at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, and the Berlin Konzerthaus.
Devoted master teachers, the members of the Juilliard String Quartet offer classes and open rehearsals when on tour. At the Juilliard School, where they are the String Quartet in Residence, all are sought-after members of the string and chamber music faculty and annually, in May, they are hosts of the 5-day internationally recognized Juilliard String Quartet Seminar.
Joseph Lin was a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, winner of the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition. He was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and has won numerous awards, including the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Pro Musicis International Award and First Prize at the inaugural Michael Hill World Violin Competition in New Zealand. Mr. Lin has appeared as a soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Sapporo Symphony, the Taiwan National Symphony, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Ukraine National Philharmonic, and the Boston Symphony.
Violinist Ronald Copes has toured extensively with Music from Marlboro ensembles, the Los Angeles and Dunsmuir Piano Quartets, and with the Juilliard String Quartet. Mr. Copes has recorded numerous solo and chamber music works for radio and television broadcast as well as for Sony Classical, Orion, CRI, Klavier, Bridge, New World Records, ECM and the Musical Heritage Society. He has worked closely with composers including Stephen Hartke and Donald Crockett, and has garnered prizes in the Artists’ Advisory Council International Competition, the Merriweather Post Competition and the Concours International d’Exécution Musicale in Geneva. He joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 1997, where he serves as chair of the violin department.
Roger Tapping, viola, joined the Julliard Quartet and the Juilliard School viola faculty in 2013. He moved from London to the USA in 1995 to join the Takács Quartet. His decade with them included many Beethoven and Bartók cycles in major cities around the world. He has been on the viola faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he also directed the Chamber Music program. Mr. Tapping played and recorded with a number of London’s leading chamber ensembles, including Britain’s longest established quartet, the Allegri Quartet. He was a founding member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He has performed as a guest with many distinguished quartets from the U.S. and Europe, and he was a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Cellist Astrid Schween is an internationally recognized soloist, chamber artist, and teacher. Her recent appearances have included performances with the Boston, Memphis, Detroit and Seattle Chamber Music societies, the Boston Trio and ongoing recital partnerships with celebrated pianists Randall Hodgkinson and Michael Gurt. As a longtime member of the Lark Quartet, Ms. Schween performed at major venues around the world and received many honors including the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. During her tenure, the quartet produced critically acclaimed recordings for the Arabesque, Decca/Argo, New World, CRI, and Point labels, and commissioned numerous works.
In September 2016, she succeeded Joel Krosnick as cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet and joined the Juilliard faculty.
Photo by Steve J Sherman from Colbert Artists Management.