Isidore Quartet

EVENT SPONSORS:
- Season Sponsor: Available
- Series Sponsor: Available
- Concert Sponsor: Available
- Artist Sponsor: Available
- Lecture Series Sponsor: SINFONIA SALT LAKE
- Garden Sponsor: CACTUS & TROPICALS
- Post-Concert Reception Sponsor: DÉLICE BAKERY & CAFÉ
- Print Sponsor: SUN PRINT SOLUTIONS

The prize-winning, New York–based ISIDORE STRING QUARTET returns to Salt Lake City for our 61st season on Wednesday, January 13, 2027, at Libby Gardner Concert Hall on the University of Utah campus. Winners of the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition and recipients of the 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Isidore Quartet has performed at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall, and the Paris Philharmonie. The Chicago Classical Review praises their "polished sonority and well-balanced, tightly synchronized ensemble."

Estimated duration: 1 hour and 50 minutes
Program (timings are approximate):
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – String Quartet No. 21 in D major, "Prussian", No. 1, K.575, "The Violet" — 24 min
- Billy Childs – String Quartet No. 4, American Mosaic — 25 min
- Intermission — 15 min
- Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op.59, "Razumovsky", No. 2 — 38 min

All timings are approximate. Program and artists subject to change.

First time? WE’RE SO EXCITED YOU’RE HERE!
Whether you’re a seasoned chamber music lover or brand new to classical music concerts, we hope you’ll consider attending the free Pre-Concert Talk at 6:30 p.m. before the performance. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Featured performers:
- ISIDORE QUARTET
- Adrian Steele, violin
- Phoenix Avalon, violin
- Devin Moore, viola
- Joshua McClendon, cello

"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" — Chicago Classical Review

Winners of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition (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 quartet began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School and has coached with Joel Krosnick, Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween, Laurie Smukler, Joseph Kalichstein, Roger Tapping, Misha Amory, and others. In North America they have appeared on major series in Boston, New York, Berkeley, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Durham, Washington DC, Houston, San Francisco, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, and have collaborated with performers including James Ehnes and Jeremy Denk.

Their 25/26 season includes performances in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Calgary, Tulsa, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, New York, and Washington’s Library of Congress, plus return engagements in Montreal, Berkeley, Houston, La Jolla, Phoenix, Indianapolis, Baltimore, and Spivey Hall in Georgia. First-time collaborations include clarinetist Anthony McGill, cellist Sterling Elliott, and the Miró Quartet. In Europe they have performed at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and in Bonn, Stuttgart, Cologne, and Dresden; during 25/26 they will make debuts in Paris (Philharmonie) and London (Wigmore Hall).

The quartet has developed a strong connection to the works of composer and pianist Billy Childs, performing his Quartets No. 2 and 3 throughout North America and Europe. In February 2026 they will premiere a new Childs quartet written expressly for them.

Both on stage and outside the concert hall, the Isidore 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. They approach music as a "playground" and attempt to break down barriers to encourage collaboration and creativity.

The name Isidore recognizes the ensemble’s musical connection to the Juilliard Quartet: one of that group’s early members was 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!