The name contains their motto: The Canadian-American Viano String Quartet has set out to play their four string instruments, each of whose names begins with a “V,” with a level of coordinated perfection that would otherwise only be possible for a single individual at the piano – thus, they literally act as a “Viano.” The ensemble has won numerous prizes in recent years: in Osaka, Japan, in Banff, Canada, and at the Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition. Through performances in Berlin, Brussels, Hamburg, Paris, and Eisenstadt, the four have also made a name for themselves in Europe. Their cleverly balanced programs are their trademark. For their Lucerne debut, for example, they will pair Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 6, with Caroline Shaw’s Blueprint, which is an interpretive rewriting of Beethoven’s final movement. And if you didn’t know that Florence Price composed the Andante moderato, you might easily mistake her work for a genuine Dvořák selection. Dvořák meanwhile reveals a completely “atypical” side in what is arguably his most experimental string quartet, the Opus 61.

This concert has no intermission.