By Stephanie Powell
Cellist Joel Krosnick of the Juilliard String Quartet, which also includes members Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes, violin; and violist Roger Tapping, announced the 2015-16 season will be his final season with the quartet.
“I will always be grateful for the extraordinary 42 years I will have spent with the Juilliard String Quartet by the end of the 2015-16 concert season,” Krosnick said in a statement. “I will miss not only the wonderful relationships over the 42 years, but especially the many intense rehearsals and performances, sharing our music with each other as well as with audiences all over the world.”
Krosnick has been a member of the Juilliard String Quartet, which is in its 70th season, since 1974, and will be entering his 42nd season with the quartet. He is also the chair of Juilliard’s cello department. His final concerts will take place in Asia and the US, ending in June 2016.
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“The decision to leave the Juilliard Quartet was sort of inconceivable because from the moment I started playing with the quartet, I never gave it any thought expect what are we going to play next, and where are we going to play,” Krosnick says, over the phone from his home in New York, “and it’s been great, and will continue, to the very end, to be a great voyage.”
In September 2016, cellist Astrid Schween, an alumna of the Juilliard School, will join the Juilliard String Quartet and become a member of Juilliard’s cello faculty.
“She’s a remarkable cellist and wonderful woman in every way, and I wish her the best in everything,” Krosnick says of Schween. “If she has any portion of the joy and excitement that I’ve had, then she will have a full life ahead of her.”
Krosnick will continue to teach fulltime at Juilliard as a professor of cello and chamber music. He will also continue to perform solo, and to perform sonata recitals with his partner of over 40 years, pianist Gilbert Kalish. “I will continue to play and try to lend my voice to literature of the cello that I believe in,” Krosnick says, “and chamber music involving the cello.”
In a statement, Juilliard President Joseph W. Polisi said, “I wish to thank Joel Krosnick for his dedication and leadership as a longtime member of the Juilliard String Quartet. He will continue at Juilliard as cello department chair and an active teacher. The Juilliard community is delighted to welcome cellist Astrid Schween back to Juilliard as the newest member of the Juilliard String Quartet and an esteemed faculty member. She brings remarkable artistry to her new role. We look forward to the fall 2016 semester, when she will join the ensemble and begin teaching at the school.”
To read Krosnick’s full statement, click here.