William Primrose CBE was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC symphony orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed in various countries around the world as a soloist throughout his career. Primrose also taught at several universities and institutions. He is the author of several books on viola technique.
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer and cellist Arthur Winograd. Current members are violinists Areta Zhulla and Ronald Copes, violist Roger Tapping, and cellist Astrid Schween. Areta Zhulla most recently joined the quartet, replacing Joseph Lin in September 2018. Joseph Lin had previously joined the Quartet in 2011 after Nick Eanet resigned in 2010 for failing health. Former second violinist, later first after Mann's retirement, Joel Smirnoff left the quartet after its 2008-2009 season to become president of the Cleveland Institute of Music. Since the Quartet's inception in 1946, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous awards, including four Grammys and membership in the National Academy Recording Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame. In February 2011, the group received the NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award for its outstanding contributions to recorded classical music.
The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of: first violinist Weigang Li, violist Honggang Li, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. Effective March 17, 2020, the Shanghai Quartet accepted the resignation of second violinist Yi-Wen Jiang. The group's tours have included North America, South America, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Among their performances, the Shanghai Quartet has developed a long list of performance collaborators including Yo-Yo Ma, David Soyer, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, Arnold Steinhardt, and Chanticleer.
The Kolisch Quartet was a string quartet musical ensemble founded in Vienna, originally as the New Vienna String Quartet for the performance of Schoenberg's works, and settling to the form in which it was later known. It had a worldwide reputation and made several recordings. The quartet disbanded in the United States during the early 1940s.
The Clinton String Quartet is a string quartet based in the Syracuse, New York area. Active for over 15 years, their most prominent works have been the debuts of many 20th century classical recordings with the Syracuse Society for New Music. All four members are also members of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.
Zara Nelsova was a prominent cellist.
The Audubon Quartet (1974-2011) was an American string quartet based at residencies at Marywood College in Scranton, Pennsylvania (1974-1979) and at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia (1980-2001).
The LaSalle Quartet was a string quartet active from 1946 to 1987. It was founded by first violinist Walter Levin. The LaSalle's name is attributed to an apartment on LaSalle Street in Manhattan, where some of its members lived during the quartet's inception. The quartet played on a donated set of Amati instruments.
The Cleveland Quartet was a string quartet founded in 1969 by violinist Donald Weilerstein, at the time an instructor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, whose director Victor Babin had secured funding for an in-resident quartet to be headed by Weilerstein. Weilerstein formed the group that summer at the Marlboro Music School and Festival with violinist Peter Salaff, violist Martha Strongin Katz, and cellist Paul Katz. The group was initially called the "New Cleveland Quartet." In 1971, the group left the Cleveland Institute because of disagreements over teaching loads and took up residency at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York; they dropped the word "New" from their name at this time. In 1976, the quartet made their final change of residency and moved to the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Kathleen Parlow was a child prodigy with her outstanding technique with a violin, which earned her the nickname "The lady of the golden bow". Although she left Canada at the age of four and did not permanently return until 1940, Parlow was sometimes billed as "The Canadian Violinist".
Andor John Toth was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.
The Oberlin String Quartet is a classical music ensemble associated with the Oberlin Conservatory of Music at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Harlem Quartet is a string quartet that was originally composed of first-place laureates of the Sphinx Competition for Black and Latino string players. They were formed in 2006. The members are first violinist Ilmar Gavilán, second violinist Melissa White, violist Jaime Amador, and cellist Felix Umansky. The Quartet won Best Instrumental Composition at the 2013 Grammy Awards for Mozart Goes Dancing.
The Borromeo String Quartet is an American string quartet, in residence at the New England Conservatory since 1992. They have performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at numerous festivals and in many distinguished chamber music series. They are named after the Borromean Islands.
Alan Shulman was an American composer and cellist. He wrote a considerable amount of symphonic music, chamber music, and jazz music. Trumpeter Eddie Bailey said, "Alan had the greatest ear of any musician I ever came across. He had better than perfect pitch. I've simply never met anyone like him." Some of his more well known works include his 1940 Neo-Classical Theme and Variations for Viola and Piano and his A Laurentian Overture, which was premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1952 under the baton of Guido Cantelli. Also of note is his 1948 Concerto for Cello and Orchestra which was also premiered by the New York Philharmonic with cellist Leonard Rose and conductor Dmitri Mitropoulos. Many of Shulman's works have been recorded, and the violinist Jascha Heifetz and jazz clarinetist Artie Shaw have been particular exponents of his work both in performance and on recordings.
Donald Heins was a Canadian violinist, violist, conductor, organist, composer, and music educator of English birth. He notably founded the first professional orchestra in Ottawa, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, in 1902, serving as its director until 1927. He also served in a variety of positions with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1927–1949, including concertmaster, principal violist, and assistant conductor.
The Toronto String Quartette (TSQ) was the name of three un-related professional Canadian string quartets based in Toronto, Ontario.
The Dubois String Quartet was a Canadian string quartet that actively performed for 28 consecutive seasons from 1910 to 1938. The ensemble was founded and led by cellist Jean-Baptiste Dubois who was the only member of the group to play in every season. The other original members were violinists Albert Chamberland and Alphonse Dansereau and violist Eugene Schneider. Later members included violinists Eugène Chartier, René Gagnier, and Lucien Martin. Later members included violist Joseph Mastrocola and violinists Eugène Chartier, René Gagnier, Lucien Martin, Maurice Onderet, and Lucien Sicotte. The quartet was disbanded upon Dubois' death in July 1938.
Jean François Toussaint Rogister was a Belgian virtuoso violist, teacher and composer.
The Curtis String Quartet was an American string quartet based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
