PROGRAM
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET
Areta Zhulla, violin; Leonard Fu, violin; Molly Carr, viola; Astrid Schween, cello
The Juilliard String Quartet returns after four years! This rare opportunity to hear the world-famous ensemble right here in Sarasota is not to be missed.
The quartet has added two new members since their last appearence in Sarasota. New members are violinist Leonard Fu, who was the chamber coach at the last Winter Residency; and Molly Carr who was last here in 2024 in the Carr-Petrova Duo.
ARTISTS AND BIOS
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET BIO
With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble 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 String 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.
The Juilliard String Quartet continues to honor its rich legacy of innovative commissions with Letters to Ludwig, a deeply personal, multi-year commissioning project that invites living composers to engage with Beethoven’s late quartets. The first chapter featured two evocative new works by German composer Jörg Widmann, inspired by Op. 130, including its original ending, the Grosse Fuge. In the 2025–26 season, the journey continues with a new quartet by Iraqi-American composer Michelle Barzel Ross, reflecting on the profound spirit of Op. 132. These commissions were made possible with the generous support of The Juilliard School, Chamber Music in Napa Valley, and Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.
As part of a new collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon’s STAGE+ platform, the Juilliard String Quartet plans to present live-streamed performances of each chapter of Letters to Ludwig, offering global audiences an immersive experience of this evolving artistic journey. The first chapter was live-streamed in January 2025 and is now archived on the platform for on-demand viewing.
Performance highlights of the Juilliard String Quartet’s 2024-25 season included ongoing collaborations with violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, with appearances at major venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. The season also featured distinguished collaborations with soprano Tony Arnold and clarinetist Daniel Ottensamer. The Quartet’s extensive touring this season included performances at London’s Wigmore Hall and BBC Radio, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal, Salzburg’s Mozarteum Grosse Saal, Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, as well as New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
A facet of the JSQ’s decades-old legacy is a prolific and celebrated discography, with landmark recordings that continue to be rereleased by Sony Masterworks. The quartet’s latest album on Sony (2021), featuring works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Dvořák, was released to international acclaim, with Strings Magazine calling it a “miracle of contrasting color”. Other notable releases include an album featuring the world premiere recording of Davidovsky’s Fragments (2018) alongside Beethoven’s Op. 95 quartet and Bartók’s Quartet No. 1. The JSQ’s recordings of the Bartók and Schoenberg quartets as well as those of Debussy, Ravel, Dutilleux, 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.
The JSQ is string quartet in residence at The Juilliard School in New York City and its members - Areta Zhulla, Leonard Fu, Molly Carr, and Astrid Schween - are all sought-after teachers on the string and chamber music faculties. The quartet regularly offers classes and open rehearsals while on tour and hosts the internationally recognized Juilliard String Quartet Seminar each May at The Juilliard School.
www.juilliardstringquartet.org/
MEET THE ARTISTS
ARETA ZHULLA, violin
First violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet since 2018, Areta Zhulla is sought after for her passionate and poetic artistry by collaborators and audiences alike. Praised for her “captivating, colorful approach” (The Strad) and “intense musicality” (Strings Magazine), Ms. Zhulla enjoys a vibrant career, performing regularly at many of the world’s premier venues, and teaching at The Juilliard School as part of its violin and chamber music faculty. Ms. Zhulla has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia, at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris, Alice Tully Hall, Disney Hall, Davies Hall, Kennedy Center, Musikverein, Yamaha Hall, and National Arts Centre of Canada. She was a member of Chamber Music Society Two of Lincoln Center, where she performed and toured regularly with some of today’s most acclaimed artists. Memorable collaborations to date include performances with Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Emanuel Ax, Michel Plasson, Pinchas Zukerman, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Gary Hoffman, Gilbert Kalish, Colin Carr, and members of the Cleveland and Emerson quartets, among others. Her performances have been broadcast on BBC, Live from Lincoln Center (PBS), the Kennedy Center Honors, WQXR, and many other radio stations across the world. Ms Zhulla records with Sony Classical as part of the Juilliard String Quartet. A passionate educator, Ms. Zhulla served as teaching assistant to Itzhak Perlman for three years prior to her joining The Juilliard School’s violin faculty. She has recently appeared as faculty at the prestigious chamber music academy Villa Musica in Germany, and regularly teaches at the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, of which she is an alumna. Ms. Zhulla holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied 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.
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LEONARD FU, violin
Leonard Fu has established a diverse and distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster, pedagogue, and composer. He has performed across Europe, North America, and Asia, appearing in renowned venues such as the Elbphilharmonie, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Het Concertgebouw, Alice Tully Hall, and Jordan Hall. As a soloist, he has been featured with leading orchestras including the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, and Allentown Symphony, under conductors such as Andrew Manze, Alexander Shelley, Elias Grandy, and Diane Wittry. He has also served as guest concertmaster with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. A dedicated chamber musician, Fu has collaborated with artists including Mitsuko Uchida, Kim Kashkashian, Janine Jansen, Jörg Widmann, Laurence Lesser, Jens Peter Maintz, Hsin-Yun Huang, Natasha Brofsky, and the Kuss Quartet. His artistic interests span historical performance, contemporary premieres, and cross-genre collaborations. An accomplished composer, Fu frequently performs his own works and has been commissioned for solo and chamber pieces. He is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including the Postacchini, Lipizer, Joseph Joachim, TONALi, Ton & Erklärung, and Schadt competitions, and has been praised for his “superior awareness for sound and structure” by German music critic Harald Eggebrecht. Fu’s early years in Germany were guided by studies with Lara Lev and Tanja Becker-Bender. He completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Donald Weilerstein, followed by his Artist Diploma (‘23) at the Juilliard School, studying with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein. He has pursued further Professional Studies with Antje Weithaas at the Kronberg Academy, supported by the Gingko Foundation. He has served as teaching assistant to Weilerstein at NEC and Cho at Juilliard, where he assisted with both Pre-College and College students. He will join the Juilliard String Quartet as second violin and the Juilliard faculty in fall 2025. Fu performs on a “Lorenzo Storioni, Cremona, 1781”, generously loaned from the instruments fund of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.
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MOLLY CARR, viola
Violist Molly Carr enjoys a diverse musical career as recitalist, chamber musician, educator, and artistic director. Hailed as “one of the most interesting interpreters of the viola today” (Codalario Spain) and praised for her “intoxicating” (The New York Times) and “ravishing” (The Strad) performances, she has been the recipient of numerous international awards, including the Primrose International Viola Competition, Chamber Music America, ProMusicis Foundation, and the Davidson Institute. She has been honored at the United Nations for her work with refugees, named by the Sandi Klein Show as one of America’s leading “Creative Women,” and awarded the ProMusicis International Father Eugène Merlet Award for Community Service for her work in prisons as the Founding Director for Project: Music Heals Us, a non-profit which brings free chamber music performances and interactive programming to marginalized populations with limited ability to access the Arts themselves. Her performances have taken her across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal, as well as on PBS, CNN, NPR, and BBC World News. She is the violist of the Juilliard String Quartet and the Carr-Petrova Duo, and serves on the faculties of The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music. Ms. Carr is honored to be the recipient of an instrument loan from an anonymous donor through the Tarisio Trust, performing on the late Michael Tree’s viola, a Domenico Busan dated c. 1750.
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ASTRID SCHWEEN, cello
Cellist Astrid Schween has gained a rich following as a soloist, chamber artist and teacher. Since joining the Juilliard String Quartet and Juilliard Cello Faculty in 2016, she has appeared at many of the world’s great concert halls and collaborated with performers Itzhak Perlman, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Emmanuel Ax. She has been featured on National Public Radio, in The Strad magazine, and as an invited speaker at the Library of Congress. Astrid Schween made her concerto debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic at age 16. She received her degrees from the Juilliard School, and was mentored in London by the great cellist Jacqueline DuPré. Other teachers included Leonard Rose, Harvey Shapiro and Bernard Greenhouse. During summers at the Marlboro Festival, she performed with Rudolf Serkin and Joshua Bell. As a member of the Lark Quartet, she received the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Gold Medal at the Shostakovich International Competition. Recent recitals and master classes have taken her to Houston, Denver, Cleveland, Memphis, Cincinnati and San Francisco, with festival appearances at Tanglewood, where she performed in recital with Shai Wosner, and the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, where she collaborated with James Ehnes and Orion Weiss. Astrid Schween served as longtime faculty at the Perlman Music Program and Interlochen Center for the Arts. Her recordings appear on the Sony, Arabesque, Decca/Argo, CRI, New World, JRI, Centaur, NAR, and Point labels. In 2024, she contributed a series of instructional videos for the popular platform ToneBase. |
