Brian Isaacs
American violist Brian Isaacs lives in Berlin and is a member of both the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, mentored by Sebastian Krunnies, and the Konzertexamen program of HfMDK Frankfurt, where he studies with Tabea Zimmermann.
A native New Yorker, Brian graduated from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and attended Yale University, where he studied with Ettore Causa and received his MM in Viola Performance and his BA in Sociology. Brian plays on a viola made by Douglas Cox in Vermont, USA and a viola bow made by Horst Schicker in Baiersdorf, Germany.
Brian is grateful to perform chamber music around the world with remarkable musicians. He has participated in numerous chamber music festivals in recent years, including the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, Geneva International String Academy, Gstaad Menuhin Festival String Academy, La Jolla SummerFest Fellowship, Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival, Moritzburg Festival Academy, NUME Festival Academy, Palm Beach Chamber Music Society, Taos School of Music, Thy Chamber Music Festival, Viridian Strings, Verbier Festival Academy, and Yellow Barn Chamber Music Festival. Brian has also appeared in the Tonhain-Kollektiv series in Berlin, as well as several concerts in South Korea. In summers 2025 and 2026, Brian will attend the Marlboro Music Festival.
Over the past several years, Brian has gained valuable experience participating in numerous international viola competitions. He is a laureate of competitions such as Grunewald (1st Prize, ex aequo), Rostal (2nd Prize, Audience Prize, Commissioned Piece Prize, Special Prize of the Freunde Junger Musiker Berlin), Nedbal (3rd Prize, Martinů Foundation Prize), and Rubinstein (3rd Prize). He has received further accolades such as the Verbier Festival Academy's 2023 Edwin Caplin Foundation Award for Viola and a 2023-24 grant from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund. At Yale, Brian received the Wrexham Prize in Music, the Joseph Lentilhon Selden Memorial Award, and the Terry E. and Irene A. Sharp Prize and also won both the School of Music's Woolsey Hall and the College's William Waite Concerto Competitions.
As viola soloist, Brian has performed with the Barocco sempre giovane, Geringas Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester, Philharmonisches Orchester Gießen, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Yale Symphony Orchestra, and Yale Philharmonia. Conductors that Brian has collaborated with as soloist include Pavel Baleff, William Boughton, David Geringas, Peter Oundjian, and Andreas Schüller.
An avid orchestral musician, Brian participated in numerous performances of the Berliner Philharmoniker between the 2023-25 seasons as a scholarship-holder of the Karajan Academy. He has traveled with the orchestra on tours to Hamburg, Prague, and Vienna, as well as a major tour to the USA in November 2024. Other orchestral engagements in 2025 include guest appearances as principal violist with Les Musiciens du Louvre and as co-principal with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also previously appeared as a viola substitute with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Before moving to Europe, Brian served as a violist in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra from 2019-23, joining at the time as its youngest member. He has additionally served as principal violist with the Yale Philharmonia and with several renowned youth orchestras including NYO-USA, in which he participated in concert tours across Asia and Europe, the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Brian attended the 2018 and 2019 New York String Orchestra Seminars and the 2020 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute.
He served as a section violist in the New Haven Symphony Orchestra from 2019-23, joining at the time as its youngest member. Brian has additionally served as principal violist with the Yale Philharmonia and with several renowned youth orchestras including NYO-USA, in which he participated in concert tours across Asia and Europe, the Moritzburg Festival Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, and the Yale Symphony Orchestra. In addition, Brian attended the 2018 and 2019 New York String Orchestra Seminars and the 2020 Detroit Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute.
A native New Yorker, Brian attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts and graduated in 2018. He then studied with Ettore Causa from 2018-2023 at Yale University, where he received his MM in Viola Performance and his BA in Sociology. Brian plays on a 2011 Douglas Cox viola, on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation.