mannes school of music's schneider concerts presents: isidore string quartet's new york debut

New York, February 13 - On Sunday, March 19 at 2p.m. The Schneider Concerts, a program of The New School’s College of Performing Arts, presents the New York Debut of the Isidore String Quartet in a program of Bach, Britten, Shirazi (NY premiere), and Wijeratne (US premiere). The performance will take place in The New School’s Auditorium at 66 W. 12th Street.

J.S. Bach: Art of the Fugue (selections)
Aida Shirazi: Quartet “Umbra” - New York Premiere
Dinuk Wijeratne: Quartet “The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini" - U.S. Premiere
Benjamin Britten: String Quartet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 36

$20 general admission
$17 seniors 65+ and those with disabilities
$ 5 standby, students 30 and younger with school ID
For tickets call (212) 229-5873 or visit www.newschool.edu/mannes/schneider-concerts

Winners of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the Isidore String Quartet makes its professional New York Debut on the Schneider Concerts series just four years after forming at the Juilliard School. It follows in the footsteps of other great quartets that debuted on the series, including the Guarneri, Dover and Calidore quartets. Heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of ‘approaching the established as if it were new, and the new as if it were firmly established,” the quartet takes its name from former Juilliard Quartet member, and Schneider Concerts artistic advisor, Isidore Cohen.

Isidore String Quartet members are violinists Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violist Devin Moore, and cellist Joshua McClendon. The four began as an ensemble at the Juilliard School in 2019, and following a break during the global pandemic reconvened at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2021. The Quartet’s Banff 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, performances at Haydn Hall in Eisenstadt and the Lucerne Festival, plus a two-week residency at Banff Centre. The Isidore Quartet’s 2022-2023 season features a return to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and debut appearances in Pittsburgh, PA; Durham, NC; Burlington, VT; Kalamazoo, MI; Evanston, IL; San Antonio, TX; Laguna Beach, CA (with pianist Jeremy Denk and violinist Stefan Jackiw); and Seattle, WA (with violinist James Ehnes) and today’s Schneider Concerts New York Debut. In Europe the Isidore Quartet will perform at Esterhazy Palace in Austria, and will spend time at the Britten Pears Arts Institute.

Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist described by the New York Times as ‘exuberantly creative." His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.Dinuk made his 2004 Carnegie Hall debut while still a student, as a composer, conductor, and pianist performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Dinuk has also appeared at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, BoulezSaal (Berlin), Opéra Bastille (Paris), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East. Dinuk grew up in Dubai before entering the Royal Northern College of Music as a composition student. In 2001, composer John Corigliano invited him to join his studio at the Juilliard School. Conducting studies followed at Mannes College of Music, and doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. The work “The Disappearance of Lisa Gherardini" was commissioned by the Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. Shirazi’s music is described as “unfolding with deliberation” by The New York Times and “unusually creative” by San Francisco Classical Voice. In her works for solo instruments, voice, ensemble, orchestra, and electronics, she focuses on timbre for organizing structures inspired by Persian and other languages and literature.

Shirazi’s music has been featured at festivals and concert series including Manifeste, Mostly Mozart, OutHear New Music Week, MATA, Marlboro Music Festival, Direct Current, Taproot, and Tehran Contemporary Music Festival in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Maison de la Radio France, Lincoln Center, and Kennedy Center. Her works are performed by Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Miranda Cuckson, International Contemporary Ensemble, Oerknal, Quince Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra among others.

Hailed in The New York Times as “one of the best deals in town for lovers of classical music,” for over six decades, The New School’s Schneider Concerts series has presented outstanding young artists and ensembles at non-exclusionary ticket prices. The series’ remarkable history includes the New York debuts of pianist Peter Serkin and the Dover, Calidore, Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer String Quartets and TASHI. Artists such as Yefim Bronfman, Richard Goode, Jaime Laredo, Yo Yo Ma, and Murray Perahia were introduced to New York audiences early in their careers. The 2022-2023 Schneider Concerts Season is supported by the Alexander Schneider Foundation and with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.