Joel Smirnoff

Conductor, violinist and eminent pedagogue Joel Smirnoff joined the Juilliard String Quartet in 1986 and has performed on four continents with the group since that time. Mr. Smirnoff replaced Robert Mann as first violinist of the quartet in 1997. In addition to his Grammy-nominated SONY disks with the Juilliard Quartet, Mr. Smirnoff also has an extensive catalog of solo recordings, including the world premiere recordings of numerous 20th century works by diverse composers such as Louis Gruenberg and Joan Tower.

Mr. Smirnoff has served on the chamber music faculty of The Juilliard School since 1986 and on the violin faculty since 1989. Mr. Smirnoff was Co-Chair of the Violin Faculty from 1992 until 1997, then Chair from 1997 until the present. Mr. Smirnoff’s involvement at The Juilliard School has been complete: he has spoken and performed at many fundraisers, served on the Faculty Council and Doctoral Committee and been involved in many key decision-making processes concerning policy and planning.

Serving as Head of String Studies at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts, US, from 1995-2000, Mr. Smirnoff also participated in the String Quartet Seminar, and was part of the planning team at the Tanglewood Music Center during those years. He has served as chamber music coach from 1983 until the present.

Mr. Smirnoff has participated in the Great Mountains Festival in Korea as violin teacher, chamber music coach and conductor. In the US, he has been a member of the violin faculty of the Bowdoin International Festival for two years and has appeared and taught Master Classes at Summerfest in La Jolla during two summers: 2004 and 2007.

In recent years, Mr. Smirnoff has become a much sought-after conductor. Mr. Smirnoff studied conducting with Gustav Meier and with composer Ralph Shapey.

In the summer of 2000, Mr. Smirnoff conducted the San Francisco Symphony in an all-Tchaikowski program. He has since conducted the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Phoenix Symphony, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, the Amarillo Symphony, the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony, the Juilliard Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra.

In the summer of 1997, Mr. Smirnoff was featured soloist at Tanglewood in a concert dedicated to the memory of the violinist Louis Krasner, performing the Berg Violin Concerto in a performance conducted by Bernard Haitink.

In 1983, Mr. Smirnoff was awarded the second prize in the International American Music Competition for Violin in Carnegie Hall. Mr. Smirnoff subsequently was presented in recital debut by Carnegie Hall in its series, “Emerging Artists”, as well as by Town Hall in its “Midtown Masters” series.

Mr. Smirnoff also plays jazz and has appeared frequently with Tony Bennett in concert on and on TV. His improvised solo on “Fly Me to the Moon” can be seen on the DVD “Tony Bennett Live by Request” and two improvised solos can be heard on the Grammy award-winning CD “Tony Bennett Sings Ellington Hot and Cool”.

Mr. Smirnoff was born into an eminent New York musical family. His mother sang with the Jack Teagarden Band under the stage name of Judy Marshall and his father, Zelly Smirnoff, played in the NBC Symphony under Toscanini and was second violinist of the Stuyvesant String Quartet. Mr. Smirnoff is married to the eminent concert violinist, Joan Kwuon.