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When you see three passionate musicians playing violin, viola and cello, you think: Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann.
But when the String Queens perform as guest artists at the Special EFX All-Stars concert on Saturday at noon in the DoubleTree by Hilton Reading Grand Ballroom, part of the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest, you can expect to hear anything from “Purple Rain” to “Amazing Grace” to “Smooth Criminal.”
Violinist Kendall Isadore, violist Dawn Johnson and cellist Elise Sharp, all classically trained, have collaborated on taking chamber music out of the chamber and into the world of jazz, pop, rock, gospel and blues. And when they play, the audience can hear not only strings, but percussion, brass and voices emerging like magic from their three instruments.
The Washington, D.C.-based group, formed about eight years ago, released their eponymous debut album in 2019, followed by a Christmas album, “Our Favorite Things” in 2020, and “RISE” in 2022.
They performed at the “We Are One” Presidential Inauguration Concert in 2021 in honor of Vice President Kamala Harris, and they have had an active performing career throughout the country, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
At the same time, all three are educators in the KIPP DC public schools. These emphasize academic excellence, intellectual curiosity and college prep.
“We arrange everything we perform,” Isadore said, when asked about their unconventional repertoire.
“It’s like a nice little party,” Sharp said about their process. “Someone gets an idea, maybe something they heard on the radio, and says, ‘Hey, we should do this!’ We get together for a rehearsal with our regular repertoire, and then we do something new. It’s about figuring out an arrangement together. We give each other space and listen to each other and nothing is off the table.”
They agreed that they can take a simple idea — maybe a fragment of a tune, or the pulsing of a light turned on and off by a child or even just a feeling — and run with it, each person adding layers until they have a piece to record. And people marvel at how they can sound like a whole band or orchestra.
“We can each produce up to four notes at once,” Johnson said. “So that’s 12 notes altogether. We have to be masters of our instruments to be able to be as creative as we are with them. We’re creating different sounds, doing something new. It’s based on years of technical studies: scales; double, triple, quadruple stops.”
The women have developed their own musical language, using every possible bowing technique, plucking or strumming the strings, even doing some percussion.
“We all hit our instruments,” Sharp said, chuckling. “We try everything; it’s boundless. We do whatever makes us feel something — glissandos, thumps, slaps.”
And while it is possible even to change the tuning of the strings on these instruments, “we haven’t done that . . . yet.”
“We listen to everything,” Johnson said. “Nothing is too silly or too small. There’s so much humility involved in our process, and a great deal of reflection.”
“People often tell me they feel so engaged at our concerts, like they’re a part of it,” Isadore said. “If we haven’t connected with everyone there, it’s kind of a waste, really.”
While the String Queens are dedicated to having an active performing career, they are equally involved in teaching young musicians, not only privately, but in the KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) public schools in the D.C. area, which have existed in the area and around the country for about two decades. Starting as charter schools, they emphasize academic excellence, intellectual curiosity and college prep.
In fact, Isadore, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Howard University and a master’s in education policy and administration from George Washington University, helped found KIPP DC’s Northeast Academy, a middle school, in 2014. She served as assistant principal, orchestra director and vice principal.
Isadore, who had only taught classroom biology (while giving private violin lessons), learned how to teach music in the school from observing Johnson, who had already been working for KIPP and had recommended Isadore for the new school.
Isadore works at Bishop McNamara High School in Prince George’s County, Md., where she is the director of enrollment management. Sharp took over the orchestra program at Northeast; she has recently moved up to directing the high school orchestra program.
“We are all very committed to the excellence that teaching requires — the discipline, the dedication, the punctuality, the attention to detail, the organization,” Isadore said.
“We’re seeing the music programs evolving, especially in the post-COVID world we’re living in,” Johnson said. “In the past, it was more performance-oriented, but now it’s pushed as a civic-minded, commitment-minded engagement in using this art to make a major impact in your community or in society. We teach the art along with character-building.”
Sharp said that when she and the other String Queens have to be absent for a time to tour, she tells her students: “We’re going out into the world to make the world better for you so you can pick this up when we’re done. We’re not just doing it for us.”
Isadore, originally from Houston, was classically trained on violin, piano and voice, but she has performed in many genres, including, R&B, jazz, pop, gospel, contemporary and hip-hop.
In 2018, she was the lead arranger, performer, and strings contractor for the “March for Our Lives” concert where she led a string quartet under the direction of Adam Blackstone in collaborative performances with Ariana Grande, Common, Jennifer Hudson and many others.
Johnson, a native of Miami, is a graduate of the Juilliard School in New York. She has been a soloist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony and others.
She was the recipient of the 31st Annual Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Performing Arts Teaching in Washington, D.C., and she was a quarterfinalist for the first Grammy Music Educator Award, among other honors. She has served as a member of the viola faculty for the Killington Music Festival in Vermont and the DC Youth Orchestra Program in Washington, D.C.
Sharp, a D.C. native, began playing the cello in the DC Youth Orchestra Program at age 8, performing under the late cellist/conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and touring with the orchestra in China and Taiwan. She earned a degree in music education at Howard University.
Sharp has shared stages with Whitney Houston, Donnie McClurkin, Aretha Franklin and others. She has performed for former Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
More information
For a complete guide to Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest 2025, visit www.berksjazzfest.com, where you can view the schedule along with artist bios, news and other information, including how to purchase tickets through the festival’s own system.
