After 45 years, the Guarneri String Quartet, which performs tomorrow night in Samueli Theater and Saturday at UCLA, is calling it quits at the end of this season. Joshua Kosman of the S.F. Chronicle has an interview. One thing that he doesn’t mention is that the group’s second violinist, John Dalley, has cancer and the Guarneri is cancelling at least some of its concerts later in the year so he can get treatment.
For its So Cal concerts, the Guarneri is collaborating with the Johannes String Quartet to present new quartets by Derek Bermel and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and octets by William Bolcom and Mendelssohn. I’ll post an interview with Salonen later today in which he talks about his new piece.
