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Viano Quartet launches 2025 Slee Beethoven cycle

Viano Quartet.

The Viano Quartet will perform the first three concerts in the Department of Music's annual Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle.

By ALEXANDRA SESENTÓN

Published October 14, 2025

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The Viano Quartet, considered one of the most dynamic and in-demand string quartets of its generation, will perform the first half of this season’s Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle, continuing a tradition that has brought the complete Beethoven quartets to Buffalo audiences every year since the 1950s.

The three concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23–25 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The Dali Quartet will perform the cycle’s remaining three concerts in April.

UB may be the only place in the country — or the world, according to Department of Music staff — that presents all 16 Beethoven string quartets annually.

The annual presentation of the cycle was established at UB during the 1950s by the estate of Frederick and Alice Slee.

UB’s presentation is also unique in that ensembles appearing in the series cannot dictate the order in which they present the individual quartets: The Slees’ bequest stipulates the order in which the quartets are to be performed.

The schedule:

Oct. 23

  • Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127
  • Quartet in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
  • Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3

Oct. 24

  • Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 74 (“The Harp”)
  • Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2
  • Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

Oct. 25

  • Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3
  • “Grosse Fuge,” Op. 133
  • Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1

Tickets are $20. Advance tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster, at the Center for the Arts box office from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, and at the Slee Hall box office an hour before the concert. UB students are entitled to one complimentary ticket — to this and all UB music department concerts — and may pick up their ticket right before the concert.

Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet has quickly soared to international acclaim as one of the most dynamic and in-demand string quartets of their generation. Winners of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2025, the ensemble has captivated audiences worldwide ever since it was awarded First Prize at the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition, with appearances at renowned venues such as Lincoln Center in New York, Berlin’s Konzerthaus, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Hong Kong’s City Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall. The Viano Quartet are Bowers Program Artists at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center from 2024-27.