Cellist

The Isidore String Quartet takes its name from Isidore Cohen, longtime member of the Beaux Arts Trio and the Juilliard Quartet. Cohen remains an icon of the American chamber music world and a pillar of New York's Juilliard School, where the members of the Isidore Quartet studied and came together as an ensemble inspired by the example of the Juilliard Quartet. Founded in 2019, the quartet used the time without a performance due to the coronavirus to work intensively on its ensemble sound and was rewarded with the first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the most important chamber music competition on the American continent. Since then, the quartet's career has gone from strength to strength, and it is now the leading young ensemble in the USA, as well as touring Europe every year. For their Frankfurt concert, the 'Isidores' are bringing a brand new quartet by jazz pianist Billy Childs, which will receive its German premiere here, and Antonín Dvořák's great Symphonic G Major Quartet.

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Isidore String Quartet

Alte Oper

Celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday and the power of the youth creative voice with a vibrant performance by Interlochen Arts Academy students and members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, featuring cellist Joshua McClendon.

Imagine US: Joshua McClendon and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday and the power of the youth creative voice with a vibrant performance by Interlochen Arts Academy students and members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, featuring cellist Joshua McClendon.

Imagine US: Joshua McClendon and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250 includes a captivating orchestral program—Reena Esmail’s “RE|member,” a reimagined performance of Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4, and a new cello concerto by Wynton Marsalis featuring guest soloist Joshua McClendon—and multidisciplinary elements created by students from all seven of the Academy’s artistic disciplines. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Designate Cristian Mӑcelaru conducts this one-of-a-kind convergence of eminent and emerging artists.

The Boston Musical Intelligencer praises the Isidore String Quartet’s “invigorating and refreshing” playing and “bold virtuosity.” Winner of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the group was formed in 2019 at the Juilliard School. Since that time, the quartet has appeared in major series throughout North America, collaborating with eminent performers including James Ehnes, Jeremy Denk, Shai Wosner, and Jon Nakamatsu. The Isidore Quartet’s 2024-25 season included concert appearances across the US and Canada, as well as at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and multiple cities in Germany. Since their Banff Competition-winning performance featuring Billy Childs’s String Quartet No. 2 (“Awakenings”), the quartet has developed a strong connection to the composer’s works, and in the 2025-26 season, they will premiere a new string quartet written for them by Childs.

Northwestern University

Hailed for his “trademark brilliance, penetrating sound and rich character” (New York Times),  clarinetist Anthony McGill enjoys a dynamic international solo and chamber music career and is  principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic — the first African-American principal player in  the organization's history. He is the recipient of the 2020 Avery Fisher Prize, one of classical  music’s most significant awards, and was named Musical America’s 2024 Instrumentalist of the  Year. American Stories, his album with the Pacifica Quartet, was nominated for a GRAMMY® for  Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. McGill appears as a soloist with top orchestras, including the New York and Los Angeles  Philharmonics, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Detroit  Symphony Orchestras. He performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama, premiering a piece by John Williams.  As a chamber musician, McGill is a collaborator of the Brentano, Daedalus, Guarneri, JACK,  Miró, Pacifica, Shanghai, Takács, and Tokyo Quartets, and performs with leading artists  including Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Gloria Chien, Yefim Bronfman, Gil Shaham, Midori, Mitsuko Uchida, and Lang Lang. He serves on the faculty of The Juilliard School and is the Artistic Director for Juilliard’s Music  Advancement Program. He holds the William R. and Hyunah Yu Brody Distinguished Chair at the  Curtis Institute of Music. In 2020, McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees campaign protesting the death of George Floyd and historic racial injustice went viral. In 2023, he partnered with Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative to organize a classical music industry convening at EJI’s Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, in which leaders and artists in classical music examined America’s history of racial inequality and how this legacy continues to impact their work. He is a Backun Artist and performs exclusively on Backun Clarinets.

Anthony Mcgill, Clarinet Isidore String Quartet

The Town Hall

They are currently the USA’s hippest string quartet export: the Isidore String Quartet. Only three years after its founding, the New York-based ensemble won the 14th Banff Competition, followed by an Avery Fisher Career Grant one year later, catapulting the quartet to the top league of chamber music. The eponymous Isidore is the violinist Isidore Cohen, a former member of the legendary Juilliard String Quartet, in whose spirit the musicians combine tradition and innovation. They consider quartet playing not as an elite artform, but as the medium of an approachable, shared musical experience. In this spirit, they are also protagonists of the project »Music Heals Us«, giving underprivileged people access to classical music. And as if all that weren’t enough, there is the concert program, which combines Mozart’s so-called »Dissonance Quartet« and Dvořák’s Opus 106 with a work by the American jazz musician and composer Billy Childs.

Palais im Großen Garten

They import an individual sound from the Big Apple to Old Europe: The Isidore Quartet comes from New York and likes to follow the motto in their performances: treat the old as if it were new, and the new as if it were old.

Isidore Quartet

Museum Ludwig

The members of the quartet are violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon. The four began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School, and following a break during the global pandemic reconvened at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2021 under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick.  In addition to Mr. Krosnick, the ISQ has coached with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, Laurie Smukler, Joseph Kalichstein, Roger Tapping, Misha Amory, Timothy Eddy, Donald Weilerstein, Atar Arad, Robert McDonald, Christoph Richter, Miriam Fried, and Paul Biss.

Sunset Center

University at Buffalo

Kleinhans Music Hall

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established’.

University of Utah

This red-hot young quartet was founded in 2019 at the Juilliard School and launched their current trajectory by winning one of the most prestigious awards in chamber music at the 2022 Banff Competition. Their artistry and limitless potential were further recognized when they were awarded a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Hailed for their “blazing virtuosity” by Violinist.com, the Isidore Quartet aims to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the string quartet repertoire by creating enjoyable, approachable, and intimate concert experiences.

The Breakers Newport

Winners of the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition and the 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Isidore String Quartet embodies the excitement, dedication, and creativity of young classical musicians today. Named after Isidore Cohen of the Juilliard String Quartet, the Isidore Quartet infuses the repertory with life by approaching the established as if it were brand new and the new as if it were firmly established. Welcome these remarkable musicians for their Santa Fe concert debut, following performances at Alice Tully Hall and the Kennedy Center!

New Mexico Museum of Art

Following its momentous win at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Isidore String Quartet impresses with its “focus and command beyond its years…[and its] sweeping coherence and blazing virtuosity” (Violinist.com). The Quartet performs beloved works by Mozart and Mendelssohn, and a 2012 quartet by Billy Childs, one of music’s most versatile composers at home in both the jazz and Classical genres.

Isidore Quartet (Baltimore Debut)

Johns Hopkins University

This red-hot young quartet was founded in 2019 at the Juilliard School and was launched on their current trajectory by winning one of the most prestigious awards in chamber music at the 2022 Banff Competition. Their artistry and limitless potential were further recognized when they were awarded a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Groton Hill Music Center

Celebrity Series | Isidore String Quartet

Longy School of Music of Bard College

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory.  The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.’

 The members of the quartet are violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon. The four began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School, and following a break during the global pandemic reconvened at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2021 under the tutelage of Joel Krosnick.  In addition to Mr. Krosnick, the ISQ has coached with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, Laurie Smukler, Joseph Kalichstein, Roger Tapping, Timothy Eddy, Donald Weilerstein, Atar Arad, Robert McDonald, Christoph Richter, Miriam Fried, and Paul Biss, while performing in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and at the Ravinia Festival.

Central United Methodist Church

Fresh off their win at the 2022 Banff International Quartet Competition, the Isidore Quartet have established their place as one of the most dynamic string quartets performing today. Along with the esteemed pianist Shai Wosner, they perform Brahms’s dramatic Piano Quintet in F minor.

Isidore Quartet & Shai Wosner

Shalin Liu Performance Center

The Isidore Quartet skyrocketed to the heights of the music world since winning the Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Banff International String Quartet Competition and their debut at DACAMERA in 2023. They return with a strikingly diverse program, juxtaposing Schubert’s quartet with twentieth and twenty-first century works. We begin with the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti’s second quartet, where numerous musical lines weave together to create a dramatic soundscape. Pulitzer Prize-winner Tyshawn Sorey’s Everything Changes, Nothing Changes is a tour-de-force of subtle voicings, beautifully shifting harmonies and pulsating string sounds. We close with Schubert’s deeply expressive “Rosamunde” Quartet, admired for its emotional directness and eloquent beauty.

Cellist

Joshua McClendon

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 6, 2026

Isidore String Quartet · Dacamera

Past events

Mar 19, 2026

Isidore String Quartet · Alte Oper Frankfurt

Mar 10, 2026

Imagine US: Joshua McClendon and Interlochen Center for the Arts Celebrate America at 250 · Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Future and recently performed repertoire

Cello in Five Pieces for String Quartet by Schulhoff

Sunset Center

Cello in String Quartet No. 3 by Brahms

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Cello in String Quartet by Ravel

Sunset Center

Cello in Ainsi la nuit by Dutilleux

Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City

Cello in String Quartet No. 13 by Dvořák

Kölner Philharmonie

Cello in String Quartet No. 6 by Beethoven

Peoples' Symphony Concerts

Cello in String Quartet No. 2 by Ligeti

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Cello in String Quartet in B-flat Major by Haydn

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Cello in String Quartet in F major by Ravel

Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City

Cello in String Quartet No. 19 by Mozart

Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City

Cello in String Quartet in C Major by Haydn

Alte Oper Frankfurt

Cello in String Quartet No. 13 by Schubert

Dacamera

Cello in String Quartet No. 5 by Mendelssohn

Sunset Center

Cello in String Quartet No. 4 by Childs

Alte Oper Frankfurt

About

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