Internationally recognized as one of the world’s finest quartets, the American String Quartet has spent decades honing the luxurious sound for which it is famous. The Quartet will celebrate its 46th anniversary in 2020, and, in its years of touring, has performed in all fifty states and has appeared in the most important concert halls worldwide. The group’s presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim, and their MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire. Program: Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4 Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Allegro ma non tanto Scherzo. Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto Menuetto. Allegretto Allegro Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, Op. 108 Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75) Allegretto Lento Allegro – INTERMISSION – Cello Quintet in C major, D. 956 Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Allegro ma non troppo Adagio Scherzo. Presto Allegretto