(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – The Avalon String Quartet performs works by Schubert and Debussy at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, May 16, 2015, at 6pm, as part of the Close Encounters With Music chamber series. After performing Debussy’s String Quartet, a seminal work of musical Impressionism, the quartet will be joined by CEWM artistic director Yehuda Hanani on cello to perform Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major. The concert marks Avalon’s fourth in the Close Encounters series.

Hailed as “one of the most exciting young string quartets in America” (Washington Post), the Avalon has established itself as a leading chamber ensemble. Formed in 1995 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the quartet came to the fore after participating in Isaac Stern’s Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1997, subsequently appearing in the Stern Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem and making a Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall in 2000.

Following residencies at the Juilliard School and at Indiana University South Bend, the Quartet is now in residence at Northern Illinois University, a position formerly occupied by the venerated Vermeer Quartet. They have performed in many major halls, including Alice Tully, the 92nd Street Y, and Carnegie Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; Wigmore in London and Herculessaal in Munich as well as in the Caramoor, La Jolla, Ravinia, and Lincoln Center Mostly Mozart festivals.

The members of the Avalon String Quartet are Blaise Magniere, violin; Marie Wang, violin; Anthony Devroye, viola; Cheng-Hou Lee, cello.

Tickets, $45 (Orchestra and Mezzanine) and $25 (Balcony), are available at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office, 413.528.0100.