First era: 1946–1996

The quartet was founded by Juilliard School president William Schuman and violin faculty member Robert Mann in 1946.^[1] The original members were Mann and violinist Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer and cellist Arthur Winograd. It began recording with Columbia Records upon its founding.^[2] Between March and August 1949, the quartet became the first group to record Béla Bartók's complete string quartets. Columbia released the recordings in 1950.^[2] Around the time of its public and recording debuts, the Juilliard Quartet quickly established itself as a premier American ensemble on the international level.

In 1953, the group was the first to record Arnold Schoenberg's complete quartets.^[2] In 1955, Claus Adam replaced Winograd as the group's cellist. In 1958, Isidore Cohen replaced Koff as second violinist.

In 1962, the Juilliard String Quartet replaced the Budapest String Quartet as the Library of Congress's quartet in residence.^[1] That year, the quartet performed at the Library with a set of Stradivarius instruments Gertrude Clarke Whittall donated in the 1930s.^[3] In 1966, Earl Carlyss replaced Cohen as second violinist and three years later, Samuel Rhodes replaced Hillyer as violist.

In 1974, Joel Krosnick replaced his teacher Adam as the cellist. By 1981, the Juilliard Quartet was said to have performed in over 3,000 concerts in 43 different countries.^[4] In 1986, Joel Smirnoff replaced Carlyss as second violinist.^[5]

In 1996, Mann announced his intention to retire.^[6] He played his last concert as a member of the quartet at the Tanglewood Music Festival that year.^[7] Smirnoff took over as first violinist and Ronald Copes joined the group as second violinist.^[7]

21st century: 1997–present

In 2005, the quartet performed in Madrid for Queen Sofía of Spain on the set of Stradivarius Palatinos instruments owned by the Royal Palace of Madrid.^[3] In 2009, Nick Eanet replaced Smirnoff as first violinist.^[8] He left the group in 2010 for health reasons and was replaced by Joseph Lin of the Formosa Quartet.^[9]

In 2013, Roger Tapping replaced Rhodes as violist. In 2015, the quartet released an app for Apple's iOS called "Juilliard String Quartet – An Exploration of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden". Ulysses Arts issued the recording separately. The London-based app developer Touchpress and the Juilliard School co-produced the app, which features the quartet in a performance of Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden").^[10] A year later, Astrid Schween replaced Krosnick as cellist, becoming the quartet's first female member.^[11] Areta Zhulla then replaced Lin as first violinist.^[12] After Tapping's death in 2022, Molly Carr became the quartet's new violist.^[13]

First violin

• 1946 Robert Mann
• 1997 Joel Smirnoff
• 2009 Nick Eanet
• 2011 Joseph Lin
• 2018 Areta Zhulla

Second violin

• 1946 Robert Koff [ca]
• 1958 Isidore Cohen
• 1966 Earl Carlyss
• 1986 Joel Smirnoff
• 1997 Ronald Copes

Viola

• 1946 Raphael Hillyer
• 1969 Samuel Rhodes [de]
• 2013 Roger Tapping
• 2022 Molly Carr

Violoncello

• 1946 Arthur Winograd
• 1955 Claus Adam
• 1974 Joel Krosnick
• 2016 Astrid Schween [de]

Grammy Awards