Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. 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. It has received numerous awards, including four Grammys and membership in the National Academy of 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. Repertoire. The quartet plays a wide range of classical music, and has recorded works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Bartók, Debussy and Shostakovich, among others, while also promoting more contemporary composers such as Elliott Carter, Ralph Shapey, Henri Dutilleux and Milton Babbitt. It has performed with other noted musicians, such as Aaron Copland, Glenn Gould, Benita Valente and also (in its early days) the scientist Albert Einstein. It can be heard on the soundtrack of the movie Immortal Beloved. Recordings. The quartet began recording with Sony Classical (formerly  Columbia Records and CBS Masterworks) in 1949, and the group's discography numbers over 100 items, including repertory both well-traveled and unfamiliar. In 1950, the quartet made the first of at least three appearances at the Peabody Mason Concerts in Boston. In that concert, it performed the world premiere of Martin Boykan's String Quartet of 1949. Its early 1950s recordings of the six Bartók string quartets on the Columbia label and various works recorded for the RCA Living Stereo label (c. 1958-1962), including Bartók's quartets and a complete Beethoven quartet cycle, are particularly acclaimed. In 2015 , the quartet released an app for Apple's iOS called "Juilliard String Quartet – An Exploration of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden". The recording was issued separately on audio by Ulysses Arts. The app was co-produced by the London-based app developer Touchpress and The Juilliard School. The app features the quartet in a performance of Franz Schubert’s celebrated String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"). Awards and recognitions. Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance: