Seattle-born violinist Adrian Steele (age 26) is a founding member of the Banff-winning Isidore String Quartet. A graduate of the Juilliard School under the tutelage of Laurie Smukler, he has attended the Kneisel, Aspen, and Bowdoin festivals, where he garnered a passion for chamber music. As a member of the Isidore String Quartet, he attended the Ravinia Steans Music Institute in the summer of 2022 and has worked with such great mentors as Joel Krosnick, Roger Tapping, Misha Amory, Timothy Eddy, and others. Past teachers include Lewis Kaplan and Ron Patterson.

Phoenix Avalon (age 25) is a recent graduate of The Juilliard School where he worked under the tutelage of Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin as a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Phoenix began his violin studies at age three with Rick Lohmann and Carmelo de los Santos. Since then, he has attended the Meadowmount School of Music, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, and was a scholarship student at the Cleveland Institute of Music Young Artist Program studying with Jaime Laredo and Jan Sloman. Phoenix has studied chamber music extensively with members of the Cavani String Quartet, the Juilliard String Quartet, and the Cleveland Quartet.

As a soloist, Phoenix has performed across the United States and Europe and has enjoyed engagements with the Jena Philharmonic, the Cleveland POPS Orchestra, the Boulder Symphony, the Arapahoe Philharmonic, the New Mexico Philharmonic, and Performance Santa Fe Orchestras. He has been featured on USA national radio programs Performance Today and From the Top, as well as giving a solo presentation for TedXABQ.

Phoenix’s competition awards include First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition as a member of the Isidore String Quartet, First Prize at the Louis Spohr International Violin Competition, Third Prize at the Johansen International Competition and Silver Medal at The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association as a member of the Razumovsky Quartet. He is honored to also be a recipient of a 2019 EMCY Prize and the Davis New Mexico Arts Excellence Scholarship.

Phoenix is a founding member of the Isidore String Quartet. Formed in 2019, the ISQ has attended the Ravinia Steans Institute, received first prize and the Haydn prize at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and was most recently honored with the 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Actively dedicated to community service, Phoenix has played for numerous fundraisers and outreach programs, and has developed and toured an interactive presentation of classical music history for school children as part of ‘From the Top’s Leadership Training’. Phoenix performs on a G.B. Guadagnini violin, Milan 1753 “Ex-Birkitt”, on loan from Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.

Devin Moore (age 27), a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a violist, visual artist, and creative director praised for his “richly expressive tone” and “keen musical intelligence.” Equally at home on the concert stage and in interdisciplinary work, he brings a distinct voice to a generation of artists redefining the scope of chamber music.

Moore began his musical journey on the violin at age nine, honing his craft within the vibrant community of the Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, and Youth Chamber Connection. These formative years in Pittsburgh’s musical landscape instilled in him an artistic philosophy that prioritizes profound communication, tireless curiosity, and a shared sense of purpose.

He continued his studies at The Juilliard School as a Kovner Fellow, where he worked closely with Samuel Rhodes and Misha Amory and served as principal violist across multiple ensembles, including the Juilliard Orchestra, Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, and AXIOM. Awarded the Joseph W. Polisi Prize at graduation, Moore emerged from Juilliard with a firmly collaborative ethos. “The goal,” he reflects, “is not just to play well, but to listen deeply enough that something larger than the individual can take shape.”

That ethos finds its fullest expression in the Isidore String Quartet, of which Moore is a founding member. Winner of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022 and recipient of a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has quickly established itself as a compelling presence on the international stage. Formed at Juilliard and mentored by members of the Juilliard String Quartet, the ensemble takes its name from violinist Isidore Cohen, one of the group’s early members.

In recent seasons, the quartet has appeared in more than 125 cities worldwide, with performances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Concertgebouw, Elbphilharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, Maison Symphonique, the Kennedy Center, and Esterházy Palace. They are regular guests of leading presenters including Cal Performances, the 92nd Street Y, Celebrity Series of Boston, the Library of Congress, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Shriver Hall Concert Series, Vancouver Recital Society, Stanford Live, Spivey Hall, the Lucerne Festival, the Edinburgh International Festival, and the String Quartet Biennale Amsterdam.

Moore’s collaborators reflect a similarly wide artistic reach, including James Ehnes, Jeremy Denk, David Chan, Sarah Chang, Anthony McGill, and members of the Pacifica, Miró, Brentano, and Juilliard Quartets—partnerships that further underscore his versatility and presence across the chamber music landscape.

The ensemble’s debut recording, Adorations (Delos), has been hailed as a profound meditation on the very essence of chamber music. The album artfully weaves the works of Joseph Haydn, Felix Mendelssohn, Samuel Barber, and Florence Price into what the quartet describes as “a tapestry of joy, human connection, and the enduring resonance of lives intertwined,” with each composition offering a unique testament to wonder, reverence, and shared humanity.

Beyond the quartet, Moore has appeared with ensembles including the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (as co-principal violist), the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, The Knights, and Jupiter Chamber Players. As a soloist, he has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh. Festival appearances include the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Kneisel Hall, Aspen Music Festival and School, Sarasota Music Festival, Music in the Vineyards, and the National Youth Orchestra of the USA.

Moore is also an active recording artist, contributing to projects ranging from the New York Philharmonic’s A Gathering of Friends to Devil Wears Prada 2, as well as film scores including White Noise, Bros, and Disney’s Crater. He was featured as a soloist in the 2022 film Till.

As Co-Founder and Creative Director of the Greenroom Ensemble, Moore is deeply engaged in amplifying underrepresented voices. He also co-directed, filmed, and edited the ensemble’s documentary The Space We Hold. “Art creates space,” he says. “For stories, for dialogue, for connection—and for the kind of listening that can change how we understand one another.”

In parallel with his musical work, Moore maintains a strong practice in visual art and theatre. He was the recipient of the Gene Kelly Award for Best Actor in 2016 and a finalist in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards on Broadway.

Moore performs on a 2009 Miralles viola, generously on loan from the Maestro Foundation.

Born in 1999, cellist Joshua McClendon began his cello studies at the age of eight under the tutelage of cellist Paul Wingert. A founding member of the Isidore String Quartet, Joshua has gained international recognition after winning the First Prize and Haydn Prize at the 2022 Banff International String Quartet Competition. In Spring of 2023, the Isidore Quartet received an Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming the youngest ensemble in the program’s history to do so. Joshua received a Bachelor of Music from The Juilliard School under Professors Richard Aaron and Timothy Eddy.

Joshua performs on a Giovanni Grancino cello, Milan c. 1697 on loan from Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.