Duke Performances’ Chamber Arts Series subscriptions are now on sale. Single tickets, including $10 Duke student tickets, go on sale Tuesday, August 31 at 11 AM.

###

Praised by the New York Times for their “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct,” and by the LA Times for their balance of “intellect and expression,” the Calidore String Quartet return to Duke Performances with an intense program of classical masterpieces. They open with Haydn’s String Quartet No. 4, op. 20, written during a time of intense emotional rigor when the composer and his fellow musicians were living and working far from their families. It was a period of great compositional development, deviating from his previous styles, exploring notably darker moods. The Calidores then introduce Mendelssohn’s first mature — and deeply passionate — string quartet, written when he was just eighteen years old. Finally, they move into more familiar territory with one of Beethoven’s late quartets. Earlier this year, the ensemble embarked on a project to record all Beethoven’s string quartets for Signum Records, following the great composer’s 250th birthday in 2020.

— Freya Parr

###

Current Duke Performances COVID-19 regulations

Haydn: String Quartet, op. 20, no. 4
Mendelssohn: String Quartet op. 13
Intermission
Beethoven: String Quartet op. 131