Marcus Stevenson

Violist Marcus Stevenson is an avid chamber musician and educator based in New York City. Originally from New Jersey, Marcus is an alumnus of The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. In 2018, Marcus won the Rondo Young Artist Chamber Music Competition with the Neptune Piano Quartet, and the National League of Performing Arts Chamber Music Competition with the Milan String Quartet. Marcus has also performed alongside many renowned musicians, including Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson as part of Music For Food, and alongside Cleveland Orchestra assistant concertmaster Stephen Tavani and the Cavani String Quartet as a guest artist with Third Culture Ensemble. A lover of chamber music, Marcus was a founding member of the Elless Quartet who was one of the Cleveland Institute of Music’s premiere ensembles from the Advanced String Quartet Program. The quartet won Grand Prize in the 2020 Coltman Chamber Music Competition and was a finalist in the 2022 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition. As educators, the group has given masterclasses and coachings for CIM’s Preparatory Division, the Music Institute of Chicago, Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Civic Youth Ensemble Program, and Interlochen Arts Academy. Marcus holds a bachelor’s degree in viola performance and eurythmics pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Jeffrey Irvine. He was the recipient of the inaugural Sidney D. and Nina Josephs Chamber Music Fund, and the Darius Milhaud Award. He currently studies with Heidi Castleman at The Juilliard School.