THE LIBRARY TAKES THE JUILLIARD QUARTET ON TOUR

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington congratulates the Juilliard String Quartet on its 40th anniversary as the Library's quartet-in-residence.

After forty years of residency at the Library of Congress, the Juilliard Quartet assumes its new role as the Library’s partner in an educational program with a runout tour to southern California during the first week of October 2004.

In collaboration with the Library, three notable institutions--Idyllwild Arts Academy, University of California at Santa Barbara (Arts and Lectures Program), and Walt Disney Concert Hall at the Los Angeles Music Center--are presenting the Juilliard Quartet in a series of free concerts, master classes, and outreach activities. The tour also includes exhibits of rare manuscripts and instruments housed in the Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution.

Students, music lovers, and librarians in the three communities will have the opportunity to hear a 17th-century Amati violin and examine original manuscripts by Beethoven and Bártok, whose Fifth String Quartet was commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, founder and patroness of the concert series at the Library of Congress.

More information about the 40th Anniversary or the Juilliard String Quartet in residence at the Library of Congress is available through their Web site.

This special project was made possible through the generosity of Jon and Lillian Lovelace.