Bio: Phoenix Avalon (age 24) is a 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 recently honored with the 2023 Avery Fisher
Career Grant. As a member of the ISQ, Phoenix has performed extensively across North
America and Europe and has appeared at notable chamber music societies such as the Kennedy
Center, 92NY, Cal Performamces, Stanford Live, Shriver Hall, Spivey Hall, Köln Philharmonie,
Berlin Konzerthaus, as well as the Lucerne Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Bravo! Vail, and
Toronto Summer Music Festival among many others. Phoenix has had the great privilege to
collaborate with incredible artists including James Ehnes, Jeremy Denk, Shai Wosner, Barry
Shiffman, Jon Nakumatsu, and the Leonkoro and Adelphi Quartets.
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,