For the first time in more than a decade, the Belcea Quartet performs in Ann Arbor, opening the Chamber Arts Series with their fifth UMS performance.

Their program includes Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19, the last in a series of six sophisticated quartets that he composed over three years (1782-85) and dedicated to Franz Joseph Haydn, universally recognized as the “father” of the string quartet. Beethoven’s last quartet — and the last major work he completed — closes the program.

“These were gorgeous and stirring performances,” said the New York Classical Review of Belcea’s 2023 performance at Zankel Hall. “The quartet’s sinewy, back-lit sound carried so much of the sonic beauty of the music, and the energy behind the playing was full of style, feeling, and expressive depth.”

PROGRAM

Anton Webern Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 (“Dissonance”)
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet No. 16 in F Major. Op. 135