Raphael Hillyer Plays Hindemith

Raphael Hillyer's distinguished career as a co-founder of the Juilliard String Quartet, soloist, teacher, and guiding light of the formation of the Tokyo String Quartet has made him one of the most respected musicians in the United States. Born in Ithaca, N.Y. he studied in Berlin and Leningrad, where he also took theory lessons with a young Dmitri Shostakovich. He later attended Curtis and graduated from Dartmouth. He did his graduate work at Harvard where he studied with Walter Piston. He made his debut as a soloist in Budapest, Hungary. Mr. Hillyer appeared frequently in recital with such artists as Leonard Bernstein, Nadia Boulanger and Ruth Laredo and he played with the Boston Symphony under Koussevitzky and the NBC Symphony under Toscanini. He was also a member of the Stradivarius and NBC String Quartets. In 1946, William Schuman, President of the Juilliard School, invited Mr. Hillyer to co-found the Juilliard String Quartet. This quartet went on to concertize throughout the world in thousands of concerts and broadcasts, becoming the quartet-in-residence at the Library of Congress, and making numerous recordings for Columbia and RCA Victor. In 1969, he resigned from the Quartet to pursue his own solo career. In this capacity, he has appeared all over the world. Mr. Hillyer has taught at the Juilliard School, Yale University School of Music, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Aspen Music Festival and many other centers of learning around the world. He was visiting professor in chamber music performance at Harvard and is on the faculty of Boston University.