Shriver Hall Concert Series to Feature Isidore String Quartet and Golda Schultz in March

Shriver Hall Concert Series will continue its 60th anniversary and 2025-26 concert season this March with performances by the Isidore String Quartet with pianist Jeremy Denk and soprano Golda Schultz with pianist Jonathan Ware.

The Isidore String Quartet, which made its Baltimore Debut on SHCS's Discovery Series in 2024, now makes its Subscription Series debut this spring on Sunday, March 8, 2026 to perform the Baltimore premiere of American composer and Grammy-winning jazz pianist Billy Childs's new String Quartet, co-commissioned by SHCS. The young Isidore String Quartet has swiftly soared to prominence, winning the 2022 Banff Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Quartet will be joined on the concert by celebrated American pianist Jeremy Denk for Schumann's expansive Piano Quintet. Denk was last seen at Shriver Hall in recital opening the 2017-18 season.

"We're proud to present a diverse and collaborative program featuring Haydn, Schumann's Piano Quintet alongside Jeremy Denk, and Billy Childs' Quartet No. 4, “American Mosaic,” commissioned for us and inspired by the adversity Americans have faced and the collective resilience that brings us together to build a shared sense of possibility,” remarks the Isidore Quartet. “Presenting this program as part of Shriver Hall Concert Series's 60th anniversary season is an honor, and we can't wait to return to Baltimore!”

Composer Billy Childs writes, “The overarching theme of the composition is an examination of the troubled paradigm of race relations in America. The title of the piece is representative of my belief that America, at its best, can be a mosaic of races and cultures – a combination of diverse ethnicities working together to form an inclusive, unified, and complete nation. But America has a violent and painful history with regard to race. The aim of this work is to hold a mirror up to ourselves and reflect, and to encapsulate this centuries-old problem to the listener. I believe that the only way for this country to heal from the enormous wound of racism is to confront it head on. Until that is truly acted upon, America will remain fractured by the weight of its racial legacy. It is my hope that this string quartet, in some small way, moves us as a nation closer to the goal of self-examination.

"The perspective of “American Mosaic” is primarily concerned with the fraught history of black and white race relations in this country. With that in mind, I composed the string quartet in three movements, the arc of which illustrates a journey from a segregated and antagonistic beginning to an ultimately idyllic and harmonious conclusion. Moreover, I have assigned symbolic racial roles for the instruments themselves: the violins represent the white “race” and the viola/cello represent the black “race”.” He adds, “I want to thank the Isidore Quartet for giving me the great honor of inviting me to compose my fourth string quartet.”

Making their Baltimore debuts, South African soprano Golda Schultz and American pianist Jonathan Ware give a recital featuring Strauss's Four Last Songs, plus works by Florence Price, Johannes Brahms, and others on Sunday, March 22, 2026. An enticing selection of art songs spans familiar and overlooked repertoire from myriad styles, all rooted in great literature with settings of Walt Whitman, Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and more. 

Trained at The Juilliard School and Bayerische Staatsoper's Opernstudio, Schultz's debut solo album, This Be Her Verse, was released by Alpha Label and explores the worlds and inspirations of female composers from the Romantic era to present day, co-curated with long-time collaborative pianist Jonathan Ware. Her second and current release, Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!, examining the complexities of the female experience in the three da Ponte operas in collaboration with Antonello Manacorda and Kammerakademie Potsdam, received the 2025 Opus Klassik Solo Vocal Recording of the Year Award.

"I'm thrilled to make my Baltimore debut at the Shriver Hall Concert Series, together with my musical partner, Jonathan Ware,” shares Golda Schultz. “Our program, Dark Matter(s), is one that continues to grow with me as the words of Walt Whitman, Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and Hermann Hesse become ever more relevant in the modern age. This program feels like a conversation with the audience, and I look forward to making those human connections in Baltimore.”

Shriver Hall Concert Series' Subscription Series concludes in April with the collaboration of cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Connie Shih on Sunday, April 26, 2026.

For six decades, SHCS has created unforgettable musical experiences in the intimacy of Shriver Hall. The upcoming season builds on this legacy with a vibrant lineup of programs featuring enduring masterworks and fresh perspectives, from Bach to Beethoven to Billy Childs. Woven through the season are themes of another milestone: the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026. Featuring American composers past and present, texts from the nation's greatest poets, classical works infused with bluegrass and jazz, and some of today's most thrilling young performers, these concerts will celebrate a nation brimming with musical treasures and talent.

Concert Information

Isidore String Quartet and Jeremy Denk, piano
Sunday, March 8, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $48 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/isidore

FRANZ Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise”
BILLY CHILDS: String Quartet No. 4 (Baltimore premiere; co-commissioned by SHCS)
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

The Howard Family Concert
The David & Barbara Rodbell Kornblatt Commissioning Fund
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Golda Schultz, soprano and Jonathan Ware, piano (Baltimore Debuts)
Sunday, March 22, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $48 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: www.shriverconcerts.org/schultz

GEORGE CRUMB: Apparition
CLARA SCHUMANN: “Volkslied”
SCHUMANN: “Sie liebten sich beide”
SCHUMANN: “Ihr bildnis”
Florence Price: “Because”
PRICE: “Hold Fast to Dreams”
PRICE: “Adoration”
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Ophelia-Lieder
RITA STROHL: Selections from Dix Poésies mises en musique
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs