Juilliard String Quartet Performs Works by Beethoven and James MacMillan on Thursday, April 12, 2018, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall

NEW YORK –– The Juilliard String Quartet performs works by Beethoven and Scottish composer James MacMillan on Thursday, April 12, 2018, at 7:30pm in Alice Tully Hall as part of Juilliard’s Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series. The program features Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5 and String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127; and James MacMillan’s Quartet No. 2, Why Is This Night Different?.

Members of the Juilliard String Quartet are violinists Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes; violist Roger Tapping; and cellist Astrid Schween. This will be violinist Joseph Lin’s final Alice Tully Hall recital as a member of the Juilliard String Quartet. The group recently announced that Mr. Lin will step down at the end of the 2017-18 season and that Areta Zhulla will become the first violinist in September 2018.

Tickets at $30 ($15 for full-time non-Juilliard students) are available at juilliard.edu/calendar. Student tickets are available only at the Alice Tully Hall Box Office. 

James MacMillan’s Quartet No. 2, Why Is This Night Different? had its premiere in April 1998 at Wigmore Hall in London by the Maggini Quartet. The title comes from the seder, the Passover meal commemorating the flight of the Children of Israel from Egypt. Mr. MacMillan writes, ”The youngest present asks ‘Why is this night different from all other nights?’ before the father relates the tale of flight and liberation from slavery. The drama of the story, the centrally important figure of the child in the ritual, the closeness between elation and despair and between joy and fear together suggest the archetypes which lie behind my musical interests. They provided the initial spark of inspiration for this piece.”

About the Juilliard String Quartet

With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946, and widely known as “the quintessential American string quartet,” the Juilliard draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring. Each performance of the Juilliard Quartet is a unique experience, bringing together the four members’ profound understanding, total commitment, and unceasing curiosity in sharing the wonders of the string quartet literature.

Having celebrated its 70th anniversary last season, the Juilliard String Quartet marked the 2017-18 season with return appearances in Seattle, Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Memphis, Raleigh, Houston, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen. It continued its acclaimed annual performances in Detroit and Philadelphia, along with numerous concerts at home in New York City, including appearances at Lincoln Center and Town Hall. Adding to its celebrated discography, the JSQ released a new album featuring the world premiere recording of Mario Davidovsky’s Fragments (2016), together with Beethoven Quartet Op. 95 and Bartók Quartet No. 1, which is available at the Juilliard Store and will shortly be issued on the SONY label.

The Juilliard String Quartet’s groundbreaking interactive app on Schubert’s Death and the Maiden was released in 2015 by the innovative app developer Touchpress jointly with Juilliard. Both the app and the JSQ’s 2014 recording of the Death and the Maiden are available on iTunes. Celebrating one of the great collaborative relationships in American music, Sony Classical’s reissue of the Juilliard Quartet’s landmark recordings of the first four Elliott Carter String Quartets together with the 2013 recording of the Carter Quartet No. 5 traces a remarkable period in the evolution of both the composer and the ensemble. The quartet’s recordings of the Bartók and Schoenberg Quartets as well as those of Debussy, Ravel, and Beethoven, have won Grammy Awards, and in 2011 the JSQ became the first classical music ensemble to receive a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Devoted master teachers, the members of the Juilliard String Quartet offer classes and open rehearsals when on tour. The JSQ is string quartet in residence at Juilliard and its members are all sought-after teachers on the string and chamber music faculties. Each May, they host the five-day internationally recognized Juilliard String Quartet Seminar. During the summer, the JSQ works closely on string quartet repertoire with students at the Tanglewood Music Center.

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Program Listing:

Thursday, April 12, 2018, 7:30pm, Alice Tully Hall

Juilliard String Quartet

Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series

Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes, violins

Roger Tapping, viola

Astrid Schween, cello

 

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5

James MACMILLAN Quartet No. 2, Why Is This Night Different?

BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127

 

Tickets at $30 ($15 for full-time non-Juilliard students) are available for purchase at juilliard.edu/calendar. Student tickets are available only at the Alice Tully Hall Box office.