Escher, Miro to present Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle

Two acclaimed string quartets will share this season’s presentation of the Department of Music’s Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle.

The Escher String Quartet will offer the cycle’s first three concerts March 11-13, and the Miró Quartet will present the fourth, fifth and sixth concerts March 30 through April 1.

All concerts will take place in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus, although concert time is not the same on each date.

The schedule:

Escher String Quartet

Adam Barnett-Hart and Aaron Boyd, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; Brook Speltz, cello

• Concert 1: 7:30 p.m., March 11

Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127
Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3

• Concert 2: 7:30 p.m., March 12

Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74 (“The Harp”)
Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2
Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

• Concert 3: 3 p.m., March 13
  

Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3
“Grosse Fuge,” Op. 133
Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1

Miró Quartet

Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violin; John Largess, viola; Joshua Gindele, cello

• Concert 4: 7:30 p.m., March 30

Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 “Serioso”
Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6
Quartet in A minor, Op. 132

• Concert 5: 7:30 p.m., March 31

Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, No. 5
Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 130

• Concert 6: 7:30 p.m., April 1

Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Quartet in F Major, Op. 135
Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2

Tickets are $20 for each concert. Advance tickets can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com, or at the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays. UB students are admitted free with valid ID.

Tickets can also be purchased at the door one hour before the performance.

UB may be the only place in the country — or the world, according to Department of Music staff — that presents all 16 Beethoven string quartets annually. The annual presentation of the cycle was established at UB during the 1950s by the estate of Frederick and Alice Slee.

UB’s presentation is also unique in that ensembles appearing in the series cannot dictate the order in which they present the individual quartets: The Slees’ bequest stipulates the order in which the quartets are to be performed,

For the complete calendar of concerts presented by the Department of Music, visit the events website.