Juilliard cellist draws his last bow
mainThe Juilliard String Quartet played last night at Alice Tully Hall for the last time in its old formation.
Joel Krosnick, the cellist, bowed out after 42 years with a performance of the Schubert C-major quintet, involving the ensemble’s new cellist, Astrid Schween. The group has been quartet in residence at the Juilliard School since 1946.
They will continue to perform together until the summer, but never again at Alice Tully.
Sic transit harmonia mundi.
photo: Sylvia Kahan
Joel is one of the most fascinating musicians I’ve ever had the privilege to encounter. Fabulous player, great teacher, interesting thinker. This is truly the end of an era. All good wishes for the future, but he’ll be very much missed.
Astrid Schween is a beautiful musician and wonderful person. This is the end of a great era indeed, but also the beginning of a new one that is sure to be remarkable and inspiring.
Sad but understandable.
I play in the St. Petersburg Quartet just 30 years. My teachers Vladimir Ovcharek ( Taneev String Quartet ) and Valentin Berlinski ( Borodin Quartet) played in quartets for 60 years.
We all know what is hard work to play in the QUARTET. But we all KNOW WHAT A GREAT JOY, HAPPINESS AND PLEASURE, to play in the QUARTET.
Happy new life, Maestro Krosnick.!
I first met Joel, a precocious 17 year old Wunderkind in the Group for Contemporary Music in New York’s modern music swim, where it was plainly evident that here was a musician of rare eloquence and insight! Many years later I had the great pleasure of writing a piece (SONGS AND DANCES) for him and Gilbert Kalish. A career in which the promise glimpsed at the outset was ultimately even exceeded in his maturity.