Beaches Fine Arts Series will present the Isidore String Quartet in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 21, with an exhibit of artworks by Kim Hurt during the reception.
The program, to be presented at St. Paul’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Jacksonville Beach, is titled “Unrequited.” Doors open at 6:45 p.m. and seating is first come first served.
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.”
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 victory at the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, 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 quartet describes “Unrequited” thus:
“The intersection of treasured classics and contemporary perspectives in this program provides a narrative throughline that explores the complicated labyrinth of human compassion and love. With Billy Childs’ ‘Unrequited’ as a musical centerpiece, Mozart’s ‘Dissonance’ quartet and Beethoven’s Op. 127 engage with the Childs’ piece, accentuating aspects of the human experience: conflict, grief, compassion, obsession, romance and acceptance. A commentary on Leoš Janáček’s ‘Intimate Letters,’ ‘Unrequited’ delves into the complexities of the five stages of grief when confronted with a love that is inevitably one-sided, yielding a work that is wildly expressive and heartbreakingly familiar.”
Hurt is an artist, curator and art consultant from Jacksonville. A third-generation photographer born and raised in Texas, she studied sculpture and photography at Abilene Christian University.
Since moving to Florida, she has been fascinated by the diversity of local plant life, turning the specimens she finds on hikes into mixed media cyanotypes.
