BISQC Alumni Concert

Adrian Steele and Phoenix Avalon, violins
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 in 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 numerous others. They are currently completing their final year as Peak Fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In North America, the Isidore Quartet has appeared on major series in Boston, New York, Berkeley, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Durham, Washington DC, Houston, Toronto, and Montreal, and has collaborated with several eminent performers including James Ehnes, Jeremy Denk, Shai Wosner, and Jon Nakamatsu.  Their 24/25 season includes performances in Salt Lake City, Buffalo, Kansas City, Portland (OR), Louisville, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Memphis, Vancouver, San Francisco, and many other cities across the U.S. and Canada.  In Europe they will appear at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and in Bonn (Beethoven Haus), Stuttgart, Cologne, and Dresden, among many others.

Over the past several years, the quartet has developed a strong connection to the works of composer and pianist Billy Childs. His String Quartet No. 2, “Awakenings” was among the repertoire that delivered the Isidore their Banff victory, and this season they will play Childs’ Quartet No. 3, “Unrequited.” In the 2025-26 season, 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 performance.  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 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!

Yoanna Haeun Jang is an 18-year-old Canadian violinist, studying with Barry Shiffman, and Neuroscience Specialist student in a joint program between the Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto. A first prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, she has performed with several orchestras in prestigious halls like Koerner Hall. Passionate about music and medicine, Yoanna regularly performs in hospitals and care homes, sharing her art as a form of healing and connection.

Violist Harrison Yang Meng, a full scholarship student at The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy, began violin at seven and started viola at 14. A prize-winning soloist, he won Grand Prize at the 2024 International Music Festival Competition, the TSYO and NYCO concerto competitions, and will perform with both orchestras in 2025/2026. He’ll also perform a full concerto with the Kindred Spirits Orchestra in the 2025-2026 season. He has previously attended the Heifetz Institute and Caledon Music Festival. Harrison studies with Theresa Rudolph and serves as principal violist in multiple ensembles.

Praised by Strad Magazine as having "lyricism that stood out...a silky tone and beautiful, supple lines," Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has established herself as one of the most sought-after violists of her generation.  In addition to appearances as soloist with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Jacksonville Symphony, the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra, and Symphony in C, she has performed in recitals and chamber-music concerts throughout the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including an acclaimed 2011 debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall, which was described in Strad as being "fleet and energetic...powerful and focused."  

Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was the founding violist of the twice Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet and played in the group from 2008–2022. During her time in the group, the Dover Quartet was the First Prize winner and recipient of every special award at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and winner of the Gold Medal and Grand Prize in the 2010 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Also during her tenure, the Dover Quartet received the Cleveland Quartet Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her numerous awards also include First Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and top prizes at the Sphinx Competition and the Tokyo International Viola Competition. While in the Dover Quartet, Ms. Pajaro-van de Stadt was on the faculty at The Curtis Institute of Music and Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music, and a part of the Quartet in Residence of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She is now a member of the newly formed piano quartet “Espressivo!” along with acclaimed artists Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson, and Anna Polonsky.
 

In December 2023, Joel was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of his contribution to the musical life of the country and to the international scene. 

For over forty years, Joel Quarrington has been principal bass of numerous orchestras including the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Center Orchestra of Canada, as well as the famous London Symphony Orchestra. 

Born in Toronto, Joel began his double bass studies at the age of thirteen. At the end of these, he won the prize of the Radio-Canada Competition as well as the prestigious Geneva Competition. 

A dedicated teacher, Joel teaches at the Montreal Conservatory of Music, and is appointed “Visiting Professor” teaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In addition to his activities as a guest teacher in numerous schools around the world, Joël gives master classes at Orford Musique. 

Joel Quarrington has recorded numerous albums as a soloist, some of which have won Juno and Opus Awards. The International Society of Bassists awarded him special awards recognizing his outstanding performances as a soloist and orchestral musician. Joel plays a bass by Italian master Santo Paolo Maggini dating from 1660.

Barry Shiffman enjoys a diverse career as a musician, educator, and administrator. He was co-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) and currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at Glenn Gould School, and Director of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

During his 17 years with the SLSQ he appeared in over 2,000 concerts in venues around the globe, and recorded several critically acclaimed discs under an exclusive contract with EMI Classics. While with SLSQ, Shiffman served as artist-in-residence at Stanford University from 1998 to 2006 and as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 2006.

Shiffman has also served in numerous roles at Banff Centre, including Director of Music Programs (2006-2010), Artistic Director of Summer Classical Music Programs (2010-2016), and Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition since 2006. During his tenure at Banff Centre he introduced new programming in classical music performance, composition, popular music, and jazz and oversaw the dramatic growth of the Banff International String Quartet Competition, including the successful launch of the Banff Centre International String Quartet Festival in 2017.

In 2017, Shiffman was appointed Artistic Director of Rockport Music in Massachusetts, overseeing all classical programming for the organization including a five-week summer chamber music festival at the venerable Shalin Liu Performance Center. From 2009-2017, he was Executive Artistic Director of Music in the Morning Concert Society in Vancouver. A sought-after juror, he has served on the violin jury of the Tchaikovsky and Montreal Violin Competitions, and the String Quartet Competitions of London Wigmore Hall, Lyon, and Geneva.

Shiffman received his formal studies at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, University of Toronto, Utrecht Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School, and Yale University. Summer studies included Banff Centre, Tanglewood, and Aspen. He is also  the recipient of the Longy School’s Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Calgary.

David Ying is cellist of the Grammy award winning Ying Quartet. With the group he has performed widely throughout North America, and abroad, in traditional venues from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. In addition, the quartet’s interest in making music a part of everyday life has led to performances in schools, hospitals, restaurants, correctional facilities and the White House. From its earliest years in a National Endowment for the Arts residency in Jesup, IA, the quartet has explored every opportunity to share music, and sought to communicate music’s expression of shared humanity.

The quartet also shares music through its recording activities. The Ying Quartet’s recording projects range from standard string quartet repertoire to its Lifemusic commissions to unusual collaborations with distinguished artists. Its recording of the Tchaikovsky Quartets is among its four Grammy nominations, and a collaboration with the Turtle Island Quartet won a Grammy.

Apart from the Ying Quartet, David was a prizewinner in both the Naumburg International Cello competition and the Washington International Competition. In addition to performances with orchestra, he has played numerous recitals with pianist Elinor Freer, also his wife. Besides concertizing together, for ten years they also were artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival. David is presently co-artistic director of the Bowdoin International Music Festival.

As a faculty member at the Eastman School of Music, David enjoys working with cellists and chamber music groups. His students and former students include members of orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and the Utah Symphony, teachers, string quartet players, lawyers, and the cellist Alisa Weilerstein. David resides in Rochester NY, with Elinor and their children Alina and Nathaniel.