Cherished for its expressive, freewheeling animation of even the most traditional repertory, the passionate St. Lawrence String Quartet returns to Duke Performances for a third consecutive season. This year’s program echoes St. Lawrence’s 2009/2010 pairing of Beethoven and John Adams by juxtaposing the most classical of composers with a prominent modern icon.

The concert begins with one of the Haydn works that earned the composer the title of “father of the string quartet,” and ends with Beethoven, who studied with Haydn — a gem from his middle period, featuring a second movement whose theme is 15 repetitions of a single note. Between these two classics, St. Lawrence exhibits its new commission from Osvaldo Golijov, a composer of Argentinean nationality and Eastern European heritage, whose eclectic style draws upon traditions as diverse as Judeo-Christian liturgies and Latin-American folk music.

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4
OSVALDO GOLIJOV: New String Quartet (commissioned in 2011 by St. Lawrence String Quartet)
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1