Our musical adventure opens with two masterworks brimming with kaleidoscopic colors, rollicking rhythms, and harmonic daring. Bartok’s String Quartet No. 5 is an avant-garde marvel blending folk motifs with modernist sophistication, written in just one month with the composer at the peak of his creative powers. The first of Beethoven’s six legendary “late quartets,” which comprise his final and perhaps greatest musical achievement, Op. 127 is a profoundly emotional sonic exploration. Astonishing, innovative, and filled with magical moments, this landmark work blends sublime beauty with superhuman virtuosity.

Béla Bartók | String Quartet No. 5 (1934)
Ludwig van Beethoven | String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127 (1825)

Borromeo String Quartet: Nicholas Kitchen and Kristopher Tong, violins; Melissa Reardon, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello

More info + tickets at pcmf.org.