New JSQ Violinist to Begin in September

This morning Juilliard announced that faculty member Areta Zhulla (Pre-College ’04; BM ’08, MM ’10) will take over as first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet in September.

Zhulla, who has appeared as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician all over the world, has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center and appeared in festivals including Music@Menlo, Kneisel Hall, and Pinchas Zukerman’s Young Artists Program in Canada. This season’s appearances include leading the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and being guest concertmaster with the American Ballet Theatre orchestra.

At Juilliard Zhulla is a member of the Pre-College chamber music faculty and is the Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman (Pre-College ’63; ’68, violin) in the College and Pre-College divisions. She’s also the artistic director of the Perlman Genesis Violin Project at the Israel Conservatory, Tel Aviv. She teaches at the Perlman Music Program, of which she’s an alumna, gives frequent master classes, and has been a guest faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. A third-generation violinist of Greek descent, she’s the daughter of luthier Lefter Zhulla, her first teacher; other teachers include Pinchas Zukerman (Professional Studies ’69) and Patinka Kopec. At Juilliard she studied with Perlman and Catherine Cho (BM ’92, MM ’94) and received the George and Marie Vergottis Scholarship.

Zhulla succeeds Joseph Lin (Pre-College ’96), who joined the Juilliard String Quartet in 2011 and decided, on the birth of his fourth child, to devote more time to raising his young family. Lin will remain an active member of the violin and chamber music the faculties after completing the current JSQ season; his final Alice Tully Hall recital with the quartet takes place on April 12. The other members of the quartet are second violinist Ronald Copes, who joined in 1997; violist Roger Tapping, who joined in 2013; and cellist Astrid Schween (Pre-College ’80; BM ’84, MM ’85), who joined in 2016. The JSQ was founded in 1946 as the school’s resident quartet by Juilliard President William Schuman and founding first violinist Robert Mann, who died in January.