The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), one of New York’s leading cultural venues, presents Isidore String Quartet on Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7:30 pm at Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center. Online streaming also available for 72 hours following the performance. Tickets start at $30 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/isidore-string-quartet.

In just four years, the spectacularly talented Isidore String Quartet, made up of violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon, has catapulted from budding ensemble to one of the world’s most buzzed about chamber music groups.

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14^th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the quartet makes its highly anticipated New York City mainstage debut with this concert. Performing Bach fugues before works by Billy Childs and Beethoven sharing underlying themes of affliction, healing and transformation, – the program demonstrates the musical intellect, breadth of color, and vibrancy of this young breakout quartet.

Bach, Contrapunctus 1 from Art of Fugue

Billy Childs, String Quartet No. 2 “Awakening”

Beethoven, String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132

This concert is under 90 minutes and will be performed without intermission. Join us in the hall’s lounge following the performance and meet the artist.

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 quartet first 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.

Their 2022Banff International String Quartet Competition triumph brings extensive tours of North America and Europe, a two-year appointment as the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, plus a two-week residency at Banff Centre including a professionally produced recording, along with extensive ongoing coaching, career guidance, and mentorship.

The Isidore String Quartet has appeared on major series in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Durham, Washington (JFK Center), San Antonio, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, and has collaborated with a number of eminent performers including James Ehnes, Jeremy Denk, Shai Wosner, and Jon Nakamatsu. Their 23/24 season features appearances in Berkeley (Cal Performances), Boston (Celebrity Series), Washington DC (Phillips Collection), New York (92nd St. Y), Chicago, Baltimore, Ann Arbor, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Tucson, Phoenix, Santa Fe, La Jolla, Aspen, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and at Dartmouth College, and Spivey Hall in Georgia, among many others. European highlights include Edinburgh, Lucerne, Brussels, Amsterdam, Hanover, Frankfurt, and Hamburg’s ElbPhilharmonie.

Outside the concert hall the quartet has worked with PROJECT: MUSIC HEALS US providing encouragement, education, and healing to marginalized communities - including elderly, disabled, rehabilitating incarcerated and homeless populations - who otherwise have limited access to high-quality live music performance. They have also been the resident ensemble for the Contemporary Alexander School/Alexander Alliance International. In conjunction with those well-versed in the world of Alexander Technique, as well as other performers, the ISQ explores the vast landscape of body awareness, mental preparation, and performance practice.

The name Isidore recognizes the ensemble’s musical connection to the Juilliard Quartet: one of that group’s early members was legendary violinist Isidore Cohen. Additionally, it acknowledges a shared affection for a certain libation - legend has it a Greek monk named Isidore concocted the first genuine vodka recipe for the Grand Duchy of Moscow!

When: Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Where: Buttenwieser Hall at The Arnhold Center, 1395 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10128

Tickets start at $30 and are available at https://www.92ny.org/event/isidore-string-quartet.