Calidore String Quartet 2026-27 University of Delaware Concert Series

Calidore String Quartet Announces 2026-2027 Concert Series at University of Delaware’s Gore Recital Hall on September 16, November 9, January 15, and March 16

The Calidore, deemed “One of the finest string quartets on the planet” by Le Devoir, have served as the University of Delaware’s Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence since 2024.

This year, the Calidore expand their position further to include a curated “Calidore Presents” series, welcoming violinist Yura Lee for a multi-day residency and a solo concert on February 24, violist Timothy Ridout for a collaborative concert on May 4, and artists including the Quatuor Ebène, violinist Ida Kavafian, and violinist Eugene Drucker for coachings and masterclasses with University of Delaware students throughout the season.  

The Calidore will also host the fifth annual edition of their winter seminar for young string soloists and college-age string quartets from January 15-18, 2027.

“The Calidore Quartet…becomes not a group of four players, but one single instrument incapable of dissolution.” – ConcertoNet

This season, the Calidore String Quartet bring their “sophistication and sheer polish” (Gramophone) to four concerts at the University of Delaware’s Gore Concert Hall on September 16, November 9, January 15, and March 16, with repertoire including works by Samuel Adams, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Caroline Shaw, Mark-Anthony Turnage, and others.

The Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence will also expand this season to include a “Calidore Presents” series, welcoming violinist Yura Lee on February 24 for a multi-day residency culminating with a performance of Eugène Ysaÿe's set of Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27, and Timothy Ridout on May 4, who will perform as a soloist and also in collaboration with the Calidore on Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet, with the viola playing the role of the clarinet. The Calidore will also present the celebrated Quatuor Ebène in a masterclass with the University of Delaware chamber music students on March 29, 2027.  

In addition to these performances at the University of Delaware, Calidore String Quartet will host their fifth annual winter seminar for young string soloists and string quartets from January 15-18, 2027. The seminar – geared toward young string soloists (12 years old and up) and college-age string quartets – offers daily coachings and lessons with members of the Calidore String Quartet, University of Delaware faculty, and internationally renowned guest artists. Violinists Ida Kavafian, the Nina von Maltzahn Chair in Violin Studies at the Curtis Institute of Music and Eugene Drucker, founding member of the Emerson Quartet will work with this season’s seminar participants, as well as presenting public masterclasses as part of the “Calidore Presents” series. The seminar concludes with a performance by all participants in Gore Recital Hall.

Since the Calidore String Quartet’s founding while students at the Colburn School in Los Angeles sixteen years ago, the ensemble of Jeffrey Myers (violin), Ryan Meehan (violin), Jeremy Berry (viola), and Estelle Choi (cello) has become one of the most sought-after chamber ensembles for repertoire spanning the classical to contemporary. In 2017, the Quartet began working as guest artists at the University of Delaware, subsequently becoming faculty and, in the 2024-25 season, were named the University’s Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence.

Daniel Stevens, the recently appointed Director of the University of Delaware’s School of Music, says: “The Calidore String Quartet's presence has been transformative for students in the School of Music and across campus. Faculty and students from every college get to hear music performed with world-class artistry, see the power of collaboration in action, and experience what emerges when technical precision and expressive mastery meld. I'm tremendously grateful that our students can learn alongside artists of this caliber through chamber music coachings, masterclasses, and everyday interactions and thrilled that the expanded 'Calidore Presents' performances will bring even more brilliant visiting artists into that experience this season.”

For more information about the Calidore String Quartet's residency, visit the Quartet's page on the Univeristy of Delaware website.  

Calidore String Quartet 2026-27 Performances at University of Delaware

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) – String Quartet in D Major, Op. 71, No. 2

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887

Monday, November 9, 2026 at 5:30 p.m.

Mark-Anthony Turnage (b. 1960) – Arietta - Variations on an Arietta by Beethoven for String Quartet

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)

“Blueprint”

“And So”

Samuel Adams (b. 1985) – String Quartet No. 3, “Alma”

Friday, January 15, 2027 at 5:30 p.m.

Calidore String Quartet Seminar performance

Leoš Janácek (1854-1928) – String Quartet No. 1 “Kreutzer Sonata”
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden”

Wednesday, February 24, 2027 at 5:30 p.m.

“Calidore Presents” Yura Lee, violin

Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931) – Six Sonatas for solo violin, Op. 27

Tuesday, March 16, 2027 at 5:30 p.m.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – String Quartet No.12, in C minor, D. 703 “Quartettsatz”
W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) – String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387, “Spring”

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) – String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D. 804, “Rosamunde”

Tuesday, May 4, 2027 at 5:30 p.m.

“Calidore Presents” Timothy Ridout, viola

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) – Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115

All performances at Gore Recital Hall in the Roselle Center for the Arts at the University of Delaware

110 Orchard Rd, Newark, DE 19716

Newark, DE 19716

Tickets and information at udel.edu

302.831.2578

ABOUT THE CALIDORE STRING QUARTET

Jeffrey Myers, violin • Ryan Meehan, violin • Jeremy Berry, viola • Estelle Choi, cello (photo c. Marco Borggreve)

The Calidore String Quartet has been recognized for achieving an extraordinary cohesion of individual artistry and collective expression. The Washington Post noted that “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one.” The Los Angeles Times called their playing “astonishing…the kind of sublimity other quartets spend a lifetime searching for,” and The New York Times praised them for their “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct.” With repertoire spanning the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works by contemporary voices such as György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw, the Calidore reflect a breadth and curiosity that have distinguished the ensemble as one of the most versatile and accomplished on the chamber music scene.

The Calidore has performed at many of the world’s great concert halls and festivals, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels BOZAR, and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Verbier, Ravinia, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, and annually at The Bellingham Festival of Music. Collaborators have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Finckel and Wu Han, the Emerson String Quartet and the Ébène Quartet among others.

Dedicated advocates for contemporary music, the Calidore has premiered works by Caroline Shaw, John Williams, Anna Clyne, Sebastian Currier, Han Lash, and Huw Watkins. Last season, they gave the world premiere of a new quartet Arietta by Mark-Anthony Turnage at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and reunited with Gabriela Montero at the Barbican Centre for a performance of her piano quintet Canaima.

During the 26/27 season, the Calidore give the world premiere of a new piece by Anna Clyne in Stockholm, followed by an American premiere in Baltimore. The piece is co-commissioned by Konserthuset Stockholm, Shriver Hall Concert Series, and The Phillips Collection and will be featured on an upcoming album of Anna Clyne’s complete chamber works to be released on Signum. The quartet tours widely across North America, with engagements at New York’s Lincoln Center and in Montreal and Portland, a tour of California, and a Beethoven residency in Denver. In Europe, they return to Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Padova.

In 2025, the Calidore unveiled a landmark box set of the complete Beethoven string quartets, recorded for Signum following their live cycle at Lincoln Center in New York. The first volume—featuring the late quartets—was released in 2023 to widespread acclaim and earned the Quartet the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Chamber Award. The second volume, released in 2024, was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. Earlier recordings for Signum include Babel, featuring works by Schumann, Shaw, and Shostakovich, and Resilience, with music by Prokofiev, Janácek, Golijov, and Mendelssohn. The Calidore’s latest release, American Tapestry, features music by Barber, Marsalis, Korngold, and John Williams.

Formed in 2010 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Calidore rose to prominence with top prizes at the ARD Munich, Hamburg, Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions, along with the Grand Prize of the inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition and the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. Additional honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and selection as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists.

Currently the Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Delaware, the Calidore has also held residencies at the University of Toronto, University of Michigan, and Stony Brook University. The Quartet’s mentors include the Emerson String Quartet, Quatuor Ébène, Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, David Finckel, Günter Pichler, Guillaume Sutre, Paul Coletti, and Ronald Leonard.

The Calidore String Quartet plays the following instruments:

Jeffrey Myers plays on a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini c. 1775 “Eisenberg,” owned by a private benefactor and bows by Dominique Peccatte and Francois Tourte.

Ryan Meehan plays a violin by Vincenzo Panormo c.1775 and a bow by Joseph Henry.

Jeremy Berry plays a viola by Umberto Muschietti c.1903 and a bow by Pierre Simon.

Estelle Choi plays a cello by Charles Jacquot c.1830.

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