Calidore String Quartet to perform

The prize-winning Calidore String Quartet performs music by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Osvaldo Golijov at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Tickets for this Olin Arts Alive Quartet Series concert cost $12, available at batestickets.com. A limited number of free tickets are available to students and seniors (65 and older) at bit.ly/oacbates.  For more information, please contact 207-786-6163 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The anticipated program for the Bates concert: Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1; Golijov’s “Tenebrae”; and Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor, Op. 13 (“Ist es Wahr?”).

Established in 2010 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, the quartet quickly gained renown as they won virtually every chamber music competition they entered. Described by Montreal’s La Presse as “a miracle of unified thought,” and “nothing short of a revelation” by the Calgary Herald, Calidore captivates audiences with their polished performances.

Combining “California” and “doré” (French for “golden”), the group’s name represents their dedication to the diverse culture of, and the intense loyalty it has received from, their home base in Los Angeles, the largest city in the Golden State. The Calidore String Quartet is Jeffrey Myers (violin), Ryan Meehan (violin), Jeremy Berry (viola), and Estelle Choi (cello).

Despite their many accomplishments, this is a year of firsts for the quartet. Their Northeastern tour comes on the heels of a debut tour in Korea. Another first: This summer marks the group’s premiere season as quartet in residence at the Bellingham Festival of Music.

A 2013 La Presse review of a Calidore performance stated, “Everything was on an infinitely superior level, of an absolute professionalism, and it remained until the end.”