Juilliard String Quartet Introduces Newest Member, Fisher Career Grant Winners Announced, Zuill Bailey Heads North to Alaska
“We want someone with whom to share magic”—that’s how Juilliard String Quartet cellist Joel Krosnick describes the group’s decision to hire the ensemble’s newest member, violinist Nick Eanet.
Krosnick, violinist Ronald Copes, and violist Samuel Rhodes introduced Eanet during an April forum at the Music for All Seasons “Conversations” series at Steinway Hall in New York. Eanet will replace longtime violinist Joel Smirnoff, who left the group to become president of the Cleveland Institute of Music. “One thing we look for in a new member is feedback,” Copes says. “We reach out, put something forth, and wait for a response. With [Eanet], we immediately got one.”
Rhodes echoes the sentiment, “We wanted someone who has strong convictions but is flexible and open to the opinions of others, who shares our attitude to cultivating a varied repertoire, and who can make his sound blend in, as well as act as an independent voice. And the key is to listen as if every piece were a new creation.”
“Working with three people who have dedicated their lives to playing this great music is a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow,” Eanet says.
As a member of the Juilliard Quartet, he will resign the prestigious concertmaster position of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. “Getting to know a lot of operas was great,” Eanet says, “but so demanding that I had no time or energy for anything else. I can’t tell you how I missed playing Schubert!”
Eanet, who’s been recovering from a wrist injury caused by a rollerblading accident, will make his debut with the Juilliards on September 20 at the South Mountain Concerts series in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. —Edith Eisler
Gadda, Ceruti Violins appreciate
A violin by Gaetano Gadda of Mantua, ca. 1928, set a new record of $52,500 for the maker at the April 3 auction at Christie’s. Instruments by Giovanni Battista Ceruti of Cremona also took a significant leap in value. The old record: $104,503. The new: $158,500, paid for a violin, ca. 1800. Update your insurance appraisal if you have one. —Erin Shrader
Fisher Career Grant Winners Announced
Violinists Augustin Hadelich and Arnaud Sussmann are among the five recipients of $25,000 Avery Fisher Career grants. Sussmann—who’s played with Itzhak Perlman, Menahem Pressler, Joseph Kalichstein, and many other leading artists—has been active in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two program during the 2006–09 seasons. He’ll be in the studio in October to record an album of works written by prolific Czech composers, including Dvorák and Leoš Janá?ek.
Sussmann plans to use the grant to buy a bow by French maker Alfred Joseph Lamy (1850–1919). “I’m extremely happy, thrilled, and honored to get this award,” Sussmann says. “It feels really amazing to be part of this incredible list of musicians who’ve received the grant.”
Hadelich is the champion of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. He studied at the Juilliard School under Joel Smirnoff and had his Carnegie Hall debut last year. “I became a New Yorker just a little over four years ago, when I came to this city to study at Juilliard,” Hadelich, 25, writes of the win on his website. “I have felt for some time that the American people and the musical culture here provided the environment that enabled me to reach my full potential; I would be a very different person and musician had I not come here.”—Rory Williams
Zuill Bailey Heads to Alaska
International soloist and cellist Zuill Bailey will take the reins of the Sitka Summer Music Festival in Sitka, Alaska. Bailey lives in El Paso, Texas, and serves as artistic director of the El Paso Pro Musica Chamber Music Festival. He will take over in 2012 when violinist and Sitka artistic director Paul Rosenthal steps down on the eve of his 70th birthday.
“[Rosenthal’s] a truly amazing musician and man and a leader in going to Alaska [37] years ago to create a music festival that has not only stood the test of time, but has really made quite an impact not only in Alaska, but bringing together artists from around the world to share in this music in such a unique place,” Bailey says.
The two met four years ago at Sitka, and Bailey later invited Rosenthal to join him at the Texas festival. “We had thorough discussions about life and music and my dreams and my vision in general about what I do in El Paso and other parts of my career,” Bailey says. “My festival is very similar in scope to his.”
Bailey hasn’t decided if he will take up a second or permanent residence in the scenic Alaskan town. “I don’t live with blinders on,” Bailey says. “I just kind of enjoy and follow this unique path that’s unwinding on its own.”—R.W.
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