Violinist Areta Zhulla to Join the Juilliard String Quartet in September

February 23, 2018, 11:25 AM · Juilliard has announced that violinist Areta Zhulla will join the Juilliard String Quartet as first violinist in Sept. 2018.

The Juilliard String Quartet with its newest member. L-R: Violist Roger Tapping, Cellist Astrid Schween, Violinist Ronald Copes, and Violinist Areta Zhulla. Photo by Claudio Papapietro.

She will succeed Joseph Lin, who has been first violinist of the quartet since 2011. Lin is stepping down to take more time for his family after the birth of his fourth child. He will remain on the violin and chamber music faculties at Juilliard.

"I am forever grateful to my past and present colleagues in the Juilliard String Quartet for their humanity, wisdom, and artistry," Lin said. "Our experiences together exploring the most wonderful and profound music have been inspiring and humbling. As I turn now to the loving task of raising three young boys and their newborn sister, I know that these experiences will continue to nourish me as well as my children, and I look forward to bringing them to JSQ concerts for years to come. With great joy I welcome Areta Zhulla and eagerly await the new voice she will bring to the Juilliard String Quartet."

Zhulla has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada, and Asia and has been a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center. She is artistic director of the Perlman-Genesis Violin Project, a series of workshops at the Israel Conservatory, Tel Aviv. Zhulla is on the chamber music faculties of Juilliard's Pre-College Division and the Perlman Music Program, of which she is an alumna, and serves as a Starling Fellow teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman in Juilliard's College and Pre-College divisions. Zhulla will be the second female member of the quartet, cellist Astrid Schween, also a Juilliard alumna, having joined in September 2016. Other current members of the quartet are violinist Ronald Copes and violist Roger Tapping.

A third-generation violinist of Greek descent, Zhulla studied at Juilliard with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, and was a recipient of the Vergotis Scholarship. Other teachers include Pinchas Zukerman, Patinka Kopec and her father, Lefter Zhulla.

"As long as I can remember, I have loved string quartets and dreamed of an artistic life immersed in chamber music," Zhulla said. "The opportunity to join Ronald Copes, Roger Tapping, and Astrid Schween as the newest member of the Juilliard String Quartet is an honor and a dream come true. I have always admired the quartet - its tremendous legacy and artistic mission represent something I believe in and hold dear. What's more, from the very first moment I played with my new colleagues, it felt special and right. Now, I cannot wait to build our new voice together, with the integrity and authenticity for which the Juilliard String Quartet is known."

Lin's last Alice Tully Hall recital with the quartet will take place on April 12, and he will be with the quartet through its Ravinia Festival appearance on June 20, after which the current members will teach together at Tanglewood. (Here is the Juilliard String Quartet's complete spring semester tour schedule.)

The Juilliard String Quartet was founded in 1946 as the school's resident quartet by then-Juilliard President William Schuman and the founding first violinist, Robert Mann, who died in January.

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