Izaak Atlas Schwartz

Multi-instrumentalist, and composer Izaak Atlas Schwartz was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, in 2011, and began studying piano at age five after displaying a rare ability to memorize entire classical works by ear. In 2017, his family relocated to the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, where immersion in Appalachian traditional music at local festivals deepened his connection to his ancestral Appalachian roots in North Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. Living just twenty minutes from the historic Wind Gap Bluegrass Festival and the Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association (AFBA) gatherings, Izaak grew up playing at these festivals, steadily mastering multiple bluegrass instruments as he attended the Kids' Academies and joined the jam culture. When he first picked up the banjo, the bond was immediate, and it remains the driving force behind his creative voice in bluegrass today. Izaak currently studies with Berklee graduate Trevin Nelson, Tony Trischka, & Cassidy Beentjes.