The Juilliard String Quartet Celebrates the
40th Anniversary of Its Residency at the Library of Congress
November
26, 2002 — Beginning on December 18, 2002 the Juilliard String
Quartet will celebrate its 40th anniversary as Quartet-in-residence at
the Library of Congress with a yearlong series of recitals, master classes
and colloquia. Concerts from the Library of Congress will present
the Quartet in these programs, which have been designed to honor and highlight
both the Quartet's history as a the groundbreaking champion of new American
music and its unparalleled artistry in the masterworks of the quartet
repertoire. The program for the December 18th opening gala concert will
include Mozart's String Quartet in B-Flat Major, K. 458, "the Hunt",
Ruth Crawford-Seeger's String Quartet, and the Mendelssohn Octet, in which
the Juilliard will be joined by the Avalon Quartet.
In each ensuing concert the Quartet will pair a work by an American composer - Elliot Carter, Gunther Schuller, Ruth Crawford-Seeger, Milton Babbitt to name a few - with the complete series of Beethoven's sixteen string quartets. Four distinguished American scholars will offer lectures and pre-concert presentations throughout the year. Also scheduled in conjunction with these concerts are master classes and workshops with students from the Washington area, open rehearsals, broadcasts, and a commemorative recording.
To mark the milestone of the 40th anniversary the Verna and Irving Fine Fund at the Library of Congress has commissioned Richard Wernick to write a work for string quartet and horn, which will be premiered in May 2003 by the Quartet and horn player, William Purvis. In 1978 the Library of Congress commissioned Henri Dutillieux's Ainsi la nuit for the Juilliard, and over the course of the Quartet's history, it has premiered over sixty new works by American composers and has introduced compositions by such masters as Elliott Carter, Milton Babbitt, Ralph Shapey and Gunther Schuller. It presented the first performances of Bela Bartok's six string quartets in the United States and thereby established the Bartoks as staples of the string quartet repertoire. In the last two seasons alone, the Quartet has premiered works by Elliot Carter, Ralph Shapey and Gunther Schuller. Thus, its unflagging commitment to new music - and especially to new American music - continues to the present day.
The Juilliard String Quartet's distinguished association with the Library of Congress began two years after its formation, on December 10, 1948, when its founding members, violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer and cellist Arthur Winograd gave the Juilliard Quartet's debut performance in the Library's historic Coolidge Auditorium. In 1962 they would succeed the Budapest String Quartet as quartet-in-residence at the Library, where they have since presented an annual series of concerts. Through nationwide chamber music radio broadcasts from the Library of Congress, the Quartet has brought new American repertoire to broader audiences for the four decades of its tenure.
The Quartet has also always been involved in the continuing music education of both the music-loving public and young musicians. Under the auspices of the Irving Caesar Lifetime Trust, the Juilliard String Quartet presented a string seminar for young professional quartets in a joint program sponsored by the Library and the Smithsonian Institution. Aside from their teaching duties at the Juilliard School in New York City, other educational activities include an ongoing series of master classes at the Levine School of Music.
Leading scholars, composers and educators will participate in the 40th Anniversary with special presentations honoring this milestone. Included among the distinguished participants are Lewis Lockwood of Harvard University, Pozzi Escot and Robert Kogan of the New England Conservatory of Music, Murry Sidlin, Dean of the Catholic University of America's Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Jos Bowen of Georgetown University, Christopher Kendall of the University of Maryland School of Music, and Jonathan Matis of the American Composers' Forum, Washington, D.C. chapter.
A resident teaching and performing ensemble at The Juilliard School for over fifty years, the Juilliard String Quartet has established and maintains a reputation as one of the world's greatest chamber ensembles. Consisting of first violinist, Joel Smirnoff, second violinist Ronald Copes, violist Samuel Rhodes and cellist Joel Krosnick, the Quartet has performed throughout the world in recitals, at music festivals and with major symphony orchestras as concerto quartet-soloist. James Oestreich of The New York Times said: "...in its more than fifty years (the Juilliard String Quartet) has made it a point of honor to approach contemporary pieces with the same care and respect as it would establish classics, and to approach antique masterworks with the sense of excitement and adventure it would the newly minted."
The 40th anniversary celebration begins with the
gala concert at the historic Coolidge Auditorium of the Library on December
18, 2002 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets for all concerts are available through TicketMaster
at (301)808-6900, (410)752-1200, or (800)551-7328. Although the supply
of tickets may be exhausted, there are often empty seats at concert time.
Interested patrons are encouraged to come to the Library by 6:30 p.m.
on concert nights to wait in the standby line for no-show tickets. The
Coolidge Auditorium is located on the ground floor of the Thomas Jefferson
Building, 10 First Street, S.E. For further information about Concerts
from the Library of Congress, please call the Concert Information Line
at (202)707-5502, or visit the Library on the web at www.loc.gov/concerts.
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