The Isidore String Quartet, a name swiftly rising in the world of chamber music, is redefining the genre with their unique blend of tradition and innovation. Known for their commitment to making classical music accessible to all, they have been enchanting audiences worldwide. From their soulful renditions of Haydn and Dvořák to new works by Billy Childs, this New York-based ensemble is on a mission to transform string quartet playing into a shared musical experience. Join us as we delve into the highlights of their recent performances.

The Isidore String Quartet: A Fusion of Tradition and Innovation

In 2025, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of one of the most exuberant and masterfully crafted works in the chamber music repertoire. Written when Mendelssohn was just 16, the Octet is a dazzling showcase of youthful energy, lyrical beauty, and intricate interplay, requiring eight musicians to blend with the precision of a single voice. With the Miró Quartet’s seasoned artistry and the Isidore Quartet’s fresh dynamism, this collaboration promises to bring out the Octet’s electrifying brilliance, from its soaring melodies to its breathtaking fugue. With warmth, virtuosity, and sheer joy, the Miró and Isidore artists will highlight why this work remains a cornerstone of the string ensemble repertoire.

EPSG:4326

The Mendelssohn Octet: The Miró Quartet & Isidore String Quartet

Clayton State University

The Isidore String Quartet approaches music as a “playground,” harnessing the gloriously vital tradition of the string quartet to inspire others, impact the world we live in, and celebrate the art of collaboration and play.

Isidore String Quartet

Lafayette College

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

The Asheville Chamber Music Series celebrates the mastery of Mozart with the New York
City-based Isidore String Quartet. Much like the famous composer himself, the ensemble considers the string quartet as its “playground to impact the world we live in and inspire others through the art of collaboration and play.” Since its inception, the Isidore String Quartet has worked tirelessly to revisit, rediscover and reinvigorate the classical repertory. In this program they will explore Mozart’s bold and innovative “Dissonance” String Quartet alongside works by Czech composers Erwin Schulhoff and Antonín Dvořák.

Asheville Chamber Music Series Presents Isidore String Quartet

Central United Methodist Church of Asheville

Albuquerque Academy

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the New York City-based quartet cultivates joyful experiences that create community by exploring the power of the collective to uplift the individual. Their program, “Unrequited,” offers string quartets from Mozart, Childs, and Beethoven.

Beall Concert Hall

### Event Description: Isidore Quartet Concert

**Date and Time:** January 11, 2025, at 7:30 PM (Pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM)

**Location:** Sunset Center, Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

**Event Overview:**
Join us for an enchanting evening with the acclaimed Isidore Quartet, featuring a captivating program that showcases their exceptional talent and versatility. The concert will include a pre-concert talk at 6:30 PM, providing insights into the evening's repertoire and the quartet's artistic journey.

**Program:**
- **Erwin Schulhoff:** Five Pieces for String Quartet
- **Felix Mendelssohn:** String Quintet No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 44 No. 3
- **Gabriella Smith:** Carrot Revolution for String Quartet
- **Maurice Ravel:** String Quartet in F Major

**About the Isidore Quartet:**
Formed in 2019, the Isidore Quartet has quickly risen to prominence, winning the 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The ensemble, consisting of Adrian Steele (violin), Phoenix Avalon (violin), Devin Moore (viola), and Joshua McClendon (cello), is known for its innovative approach to both classical and contemporary repertoire. Their performances are characterized by a focus and command that belies their years, often leaving audiences in awe.

**Tickets:**
Purchase your tickets now to ensure you don't miss this extraordinary musical experience. [Buy Tickets](#)

**Additional Information:**
For more details about the Isidore Quartet and their upcoming performances, visit their [website](#).

Don't miss this opportunity to witness the Isidore Quartet's blazing virtuosity and profound musicality in the beautiful setting of Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Isidore Quartet

Sunset Center

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

“The gloriously vital tradition of the string quartet is our playground to impact the world we live in and inspire others through the art of collaboration and play.” (Isidore Quartet)

“Following a truly extraordinary week the Isidore Quartet clearly captured the hearts of both a celebrated jury and a legendary public.”


Trinity United Methodist Church

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

Isidore String Quartet, the red-hot ensemble who won the 2022 Banff Competition and were awarded a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, makes their Boston debut in a program of Haydn, Billy Childs, and Beethoven.

Celebrity Series of Boston presents Isidore String Quartet

Groton Hill Music Center

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.

Celebrity Series | Isidore String Quartet

Longy School of Music of Bard College

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 — in fact, it takes its name from JSQ founder Isidore Cohen — and the idea of “approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.” In this program, they move seamlessly from the great musical innovator of the 18th century to a trailblazer of the 21st: Billy Childs, whose String Quartet No. 2 (“Awakening”) was composed in the wake of his wife’s emergency hospitalization 10 years ago due to a pulmonary embolism. It takes the listener through the shock and chaos of the emergency room, the disembodied sonic experience of machines during an extended hospitalization, and subsequent recovery and healing.

University of Michigan

With its recent selection for the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, the future is bright for the Isidore String Quartet, making its Cal Performances debut with a richly varied program. The young ensemble captured first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition last year, after coming together as students at Juilliard, where they were mentored by longtime Juilliard String Quartet cellist, Joel Krosnick. Beethoven’s expansive late-period Op. 132 Quartet in A minor is balanced by Haydn’s brilliant Quartet in C major, from the masterful Op. 20 works that solidified the composer’s position as the father of the string quartet. The group also performs multi-Grammy-winning jazz composer and pianist Billy Childs’ second quartet, from 2012. “They have earned their laurels and are a talented young ensemble to watch. The Isidore projected the infinite variety that Beethoven mines from the most unassuming material…time stood still here” (Chicago Classical Review).

First Congregational Church

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based IsidoreString 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

Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

Tucson Convention Center

Known for their joyful, accessible, and intimate performances, the Isidore String Quartet closes its Bravo! Vail residency in Gypsum with a program featuring quartets by Bartók and Brahms.

Community Concert XII

Gypsum Town Hall

Soiree IV

The Isidore String Quartet returns to Vail Interfaith Chapel to give the Bravo! Vail premiere of Billy Childs’ String Quartet No. 2, Awakening, alongside Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15.

Community Concert XI

Vail Interfaith Chapel

Winners of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Isidore String Quartet makes its Bravo! Vail debut performing works by Britten and Mendelssohn.

Community Concert X

Bravo! Vail’s Little Listeners @ The Library series presents interactive, 30-minute performances by guest artists, visiting ensembles, and more at the Vail, Gypsum, Avon, and Eagle public libraries. With a special focus on children ages 2-7, performing artists explore musical concepts and ideas with their young audiences in a captivating, memorable way, while aligning with the library’s summer reading themes.

Little Listeners @ the Library

Eagle Public Library

Gypsum Public Library

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

Don’t miss the Festival finale family affair with Jeremy Denk and special guest artists performing Franck’s Piano Quintet in F minor.

LBMF: Jeremy Denk & Friends

Laguna Playhouse

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Hancher Auditorium, and the Iowa String Quartet Residency Program present the Isidore String Quartet for an intimate hour-long afternoon concert at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop Frank Conroy Reading Room. This event is free and open to the public with limited seating capacity.

Isidore String Quartet at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

The University of Iowa School of Music - Voxman Building

“Live performance is where the four of us love to be because so many things are possible,” says Adrian Steele, violinist in the Isidore String Quartet. Winners of the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the members of the quartet forge an emotional connection with audiences—valuing the listener as a fifth member of the ensemble. The quartet will also be in extended residency with University of Iowa School of Music students.

University of Iowa

With their “polished sonority and well-balanced, tightly synchronized ensemble” (Chicago Classical Review), the young Isidore Quartet has swiftly soared to prominence, winning the 2022 Banff Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant. Now, they present a new work written for them by foremost American composer and Grammy-winning jazz pianist Billy Childs. Jeremy Denk, “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs” (The New York Times) joins them for Schumann’s expansive Piano Quintet.

Isidore String Quartet Jeremy Denk, piano

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.

Isidore String Quartet

Feb 24, 2026

Isidore String Quartet at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop

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Isidore String Quartet

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Isidore String Quartet Jeremy Denk, piano

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Isidore String Quartet

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Isidore String Quartet