The Juilliard String Quartet at Markham Theatre

The Markham Theatre regrets that the Juilliard String Quartet’s performance program of works by Stravinsky, Janacek and Mozart was incorrectly announced earlier this week.  The March 28^th performance will feature Franz Joseph Haydn "Quartet in G Major, Op. 54, No.1", Donald Martino "Quartet No. 5" and Ludwig van Beethoven "Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130 with Grosse Fuge".  The New York Times recently called the JSQ’s performance of this program “A Warm-Hued Beginning for Quartet’s New Violinist”; and described the opening piece as a “beautifully balanced, transparent account of the Haydn, with spirited interplay in the Menuet and a tightly controlled finale, quickly created the sense that the quartet was feeling energized and renewed”.  Don’t miss this rare opportunity to experience the 2011 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement winning Juilliard String Quartet as they introduce their new first violin chair, Mr. Joseph Lin to GTA audiences.

 

Mr. Lin is an active solo and chamber musician who has performed in major halls throughout the world. He is a Concert Artists Guild winner who also was a founding member of the prize-winning Formosa Quartet. Mr. Lin makes his Canadian debut as a member of the famed Juilliard String Quartet at the Markham Theatre, on Wednesday, March 28, 2012. This performance marks Juilliard String Quartet’s much anticipated return to the GTA.

 

Since its inception in 1946, the Juilliard String Quartet has had the technical excellence, musicological knowledge, interpretive expressiveness and collegial communication to be able to perform virtually the complete repertory for string quartet in ways that thrill audiences as well as composers. The Quartet has consistently realized the credo stated by founders Robert Mann and William Schuman to “play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new.” It is a matter, as Quartet violist Samuel Rhodes describes the JSQ, “of having iron-bound conviction, with flexibility”.

 

The Quartet was created by the great American composer, William Schuman, then president of The Juilliard School, and the Quartet’s original first violinist, Robert Mann. The ensemble’s purpose was to perform contemporary works as well as the great classical repertory, and to teach at Juilliard. These have been, and remain, the cornerstones of the JSQ mission. The Quartet’s teaching activities, rooted in tradition and generational legacy, has included the coaching of string quartets and other types of ensembles, and the teaching of each player’s individual instruments (all four are members of the Juilliard School faculty, and three are the heads of their respective departments).

 

With more than 100 releases to its credit, the JSQ is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time. The ensemble’s long and rich recording history includes an association with Sony Classical, since 1949; and these classic JSQ recordings have now been digitally released on iTunes. The JSQ’s recordings of the complete Bartók quartets, the late Beethoven quartets, complete Schoenberg quartets, and Debussy and Ravel quartets have all received Grammy® Awards. Inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Academy for Recording Arts and Sciences (The Recording Academy®) in 1986 for its first recording of the complete Bartók quartets, the Juilliard String Quartet was awarded the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Prize in 1993 for Lifetime Achievement in the recording industry. In 2011, the Juilliard String Quartet became the first classical music ensemble to be honored by The Recording Academy® with its Lifetime Achievement Award.