St. Lawrence String Quartet has produced a special virtual Haydn Discovery program, a unique exploration of one of Joseph Haydn’s seminal string quartets.

Center Director George Trudeau interviews acclaimed violinist Geoff Nuttall, co-founder of the ensemble, in a pre-concert discussion that illustrates the musical moments of Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 20, No. 3, followed by a complete performance. St. Lawrence String Quartet has a long association with the Center, with five past concerts and residencies going back to 1996. The ensemble is scheduled to next perform live in spring 2021.

The quartet is comprised of Nuttall, violin; Owen Dalby, violin; Lesley Robertson, viola; and Christopher Costanza, cello. Established in Toronto in 1989, the group quickly earned acclaim at top international chamber music competitions and was soon playing hundreds of concerts per year worldwide. It established an ongoing residency at Spoleto Festival USA, and the quartet made prize-winning recordings for EMI that earned two Grammy nominations and a host of other prizes before being appointed ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University in 1998.

At Stanford, the quartet is at the forefront of intellectual life on campus. The group directs the music department’s chamber music program and frequently collaborates with other departments, including the Schools of Law, Medicine, Business, and Education. The quartet frequently performs at Stanford Live, hosts an annual chamber music seminar, and runs the Emerging String Quartet Program, through which it mentors the next generation of young quartets. In the words of Alex Ross of The New Yorker, “The St. Lawrence are remarkable not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection.”