The LA-based Isaura String Quartet has established a reputation as progressive disruptors; an ensemble that pushes boundaries while staying true to their mission of promoting contemporary chamber music through live performance, workshops, and collaborative projects with composers and interdisciplinary artists.
ISQ’s practice is centered around music, community, and developing systems to support and examine the spaces in which they work. Recent and upcoming collaborators include Alex Temple, Carmina Escobar, Charles Gaines, Sean Griffin, David T. Little, Gloria Coates, Kitty Brazelton, Laura Steenberge, Sarah Hennies, and Ulrich Krieger. ISQ also prioritizes new pieces through their programming and commissioning, with a focus on workshopping and supporting the work of emerging composers.
Recent projects include ISQ Workshop, free remote workshops for anyone interested in writing for strings who might not otherwise have access to a string quartet; Black Lodge, an opera film with Timur and the Dime Museum, composed by David T. Little and produced by Beth Morrison Projects; Binary Complex: Tonal Duet, a durational algorithmic composition and exhibition by artist David Schafer at Royale Projects; The Planes of Your Location, a concert and upcoming recording of new string works by Kitty Brazelton; hum and Machines & Strings, featured concerts at REDCAT curated by the quartet; and an upcoming recording of Ulrich’s Krieger’s noise metal string quartet, Up-Tight II.
In addition to ISQ’s work in experimental and contemporary art music, they have performed and recorded with artists including Man Man, Baths, Jherek Bischoff, Demi Lovato, and the All-American Rejects.
The Isaura String Quartet is Betsy Rettig (she/her), Emily Call (she/her), and Madeline Falcone (they/them).
