Isidore Quartet
ENSEMBLE Bio
The New York City-based Isidore String Quartet, winner of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022 and an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2023, is committed to rediscovering and reinvigorating the repertory. Formed at the Juilliard School in 2019 and coached by the Juilliard String Quartet, they follow Juilliard’s lineage by “approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.”
The Isidore String Quartet — rotating violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon — is distinguished by a refined and balanced ensemble sound, anchored by supreme technical proficiency. The Washington Classical Review praised the group at its Kennedy Center return appearance in 2024 for its “exquisitely unified playing… the intonation and blend near faultless, revealing some gorgeous motivic interplay and harmonic sweetness.”
“A polished sonority and well-balanced, tightly synchronized ensemble with nearly faultless intonation....it is heartening to know that chamber music is in good hands with such gifted young ensembles as the Isidore Quartet.”
Photo Credit: Jiyang Chen
“Their chemistry and goals are admirable, their performances electrifying.”
Following their 2022 victory at Banff, the Isidore String Quartet served for two years as the Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University and was soon catapulted into the international scene with live performances in over 90 cities each season, including New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Toronto, Stuttgart, Cologne, Dresden, and Vancouver. In addition to the Juilliard Quartet, they have collaborated with eminent artists such as violinist James Ehnes, pianist Jeremy Denk, and saxophonist Steven Banks.
Highlights of the quartet’s 2025-26 season include debuts at the Philharmonie de Paris and London’s Wigmore Hall. Building on their close relationship with composer Billy Childs, they premiere his String Quartet No. 4, written for them, at Middlebury College. They also give the world premiere of James Lee III’s Humanity’s Essential Gems at Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in New York, joined by clarinetist Anthony McGill.
Additional highlights include piano quintet performances with the finalists of the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition; a tour with the Miró Quartet celebrating the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn’s famed Octet; their debut at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., performing on the Library’s rare Stradivari with Misha Amory and Nina Lee of the Brentano Quartet; performances at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Baltimore’s Shriver Hall Concert Series, and the 92nd Street Y, New York; and a collaboration with cellist Sterling Elliott in Santa Barbara.
This season, the Isidore String Quartet releases their debut recording, Adorations, featuring works by Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Samuel Barber, and Florence Price. It will be available in March 2026 on the Delos label.
Both on stage and outside the concert hall, the Isidore String Quartet is deeply invested in connecting with youth and elderly populations, and with marginalized communities who otherwise have limited access to high-quality live music performance. They approach music as a “playground” and attempt to break down barriers to encourage collaboration and creativity. The quartet was the inaugural Arts Leadership Ensemble for Project: Music Heals Us, a nonprofit that brings music to people in hospitals, prisons, centers for people with disabilities, and homeless shelters.
The name “Isidore” pays homage to one of the Juilliard Quartet’s early members, the legendary violinist Isidore Cohen. The Isidore String Quartet was coached by current and former members of the Juilliard Quartet, including Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, and the late Joel Krosnick and Roger Tapping. They also trained with Joseph Kalichstein, Laurie Smukler, and Misha Amory, among other distinguished players and educators.
The group’s name is also a nod to a shared predilection for a certain libation — legend has it that a Greek monk named Isidore concocted the first genuine vodka recipe for the Grand Duchy of Moscow!
December, 2025. Please discard any previously or undated versions.
“A focus and command beyond their years… the sweeping coherence and blazing virtuosity of their narrative had the audience leaping to their feet at the end.”
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