VC Artist Verona Quartet Named Fischoff's Ann Divine Educator Award Recipient

The Verona Quartet will undertake an outreach residency in Indiana, which recognizes their outstanding commitment to community engagement

The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association presents its Ann Divine Educator Award each year to an ensemble that has taken part in the Fischoff Competition, in recognition of outstanding outreach programming for children and youth in the United States.

In 2025, the award was given to VC Artist Verona Quartet. As part of their prize, they will receive an endorsement from Fischoff, a cash award, and a residency in St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties in Indiana.

From November 11 to 17, 2025, the quartet will conduct workshops and give concerts in schools, community centers, and libraries. These will include Fischoff’s flagship program, Stories and Music: S.A.M. I Am, as well as Fischoff’s Chamber Music Academy and Elkhart County’s El Sistema (ECoSistema) students.

Comprising violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, violist Abigail Rojansky, and cellist Jonathan Dormand, the group is currently in residence at the Oberlin Conservatory and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, and Melbourne Recital Hall. They have also made appearances at La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Bravo! Vail, Caramoor, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Over the years, the quartet has been highly committed to outreach projects. Recently, the group served as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor Center for Music and Art, where they performed and taught at over forty K-12 schools in the region. They also designed an engagement project in Danville, Illinois, where over two years, the group curated a chamber music series and gave outreach performances.

"Verona Quartet has had a meteoric rise since being at Fischoff in 2013, culminating in the quartet’s crowning as the 2020 Cleveland Quartet Winner and then Quartet-in-Residence at Oberlin College & Conservatory," said Kara Kane, Fischoff's Education Director. "Verona has  been able to leverage their international sensibilities to produce richly curated experiences for  their audiences."

"I can’t wait to see how their commitment to community engagement and impressive work with K-12 students will manifest itself in Fischoff’s Stories & Music (S.A.M. I Am)  program and ongoing collaboration with our ECoSistema partner musicians. We are also excited to give area pre-college students in our Fischoff Chamber Music Academy and other high school partnerships the opportunity to take a deeper dive into cultivating a sense of community through chamber music."

"We are thrilled and deeply honored to receive the 2025 Ann Divine Educator Award from the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association," said Dorothy Ro on behalf of the quartet. "Fischoff has been a cherished part of our quartet’s journey, and this recognition energizes our ongoing commitment to music education and community engagement."

"We believe wholeheartedly in the power of chamber music to inspire, spark connection, and uplift lives. We’re excited to return to Indiana this November to share that joy with students and communities throughout St. Joseph and Elkhart Counties. Our sincerest thanks to Fischoff and to Ann Divine for their unwavering dedication to education in the arts. We are grateful for the opportunity to carry their mission forward."