As their first decade of performing together coincided with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, the Calidore String Quartet embarked on a tour to perform the complete cycle of the composer’s sixteen string quartets.

“Performing the Beethoven cycle is the musical equivalent of scaling Mount Everest,” said violinist Ryan Meehan, who once appeared on WFMT’s Introductions. “It is a grueling nine hours of music comprised of some of the most technically intricate and emotionally demanding music ever conceived, to which we have dedicated much of our studying and performing since the quartet’s inception.”

The quartet now presents the third installment in their award-winning recording series of the Beethoven cycle with a three-disc album of the Early Quartets. The first album of Late Quartets won the Chamber Music Award at the BBC Music Magazine Awards 2024, and their second album of Middle Quartets was named Chamber Recording of the Month in Gramophone Magazine.