The DaPonte String Quartet launches its 26th season with a special look at the string quartets of Bela Bartok, a composer with whom the DSQ has an intimate and unusual connection. The Quartet will open the season with Bartok's String Quartet No. 3 and end with his String Quartet No. 2.

Early on, the DSQ studied the Hungarian composer with musicians from his inner circle, recalls cellist Myles, who co-founded the group in the early '90s in Philadelphia. "We studied Bartók closely with Zoltán Székely - Bartók's sonata partner and friend - and worked with other prominent Hungarian masters, including Lorand Fenyves and Eugene Lehner, the violist of the Kolisch String Quartet, who gave the work's European premiere." The result was "what amounted to an apprenticeship in the Austro-Hungarian tradition."

The season, which is performed in Damariscotta, Rockport, Boothbay Harbor, Portland and Brunswick, opens with Series I "What Goes Around..." from Nov. 4-12. It consists of Mozart's String Quartet in E flat Major; Bartok's String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85; and Johannes Brahms's String Quartet No. 3 in B flat Major, Op. 67.

Series II, "A Stroll in the Prater," runs from March 18-25 and comprises Haydn's String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No 2; Alban Berg's String Quartet, Opus 3; and Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No 1.

Series III, "Obsessions," runs from May 5-13. It features Hugo Wolf's "Italian Serenade"; Bartok's String Quartet No. 2, Sz. 67, and Schubert's String Quartet in G Major.

Performances of "What Goes Around" are:

o Nov. 4 – 4 pm - St. Columba's Church, 32 Emery Lane, Boothbay Harbor;

o Nov. 5 – 3:00 pm – Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta;

o Nov. 9 - 7:30 pm – Jewish Museum, 267 Congress St., Portland;

o Nov.10 –7:00 pm – Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., Rockport;and

o Nov.12 – 3:00 pm – Unitarian Church, 15 Pleasant St., Brunswick

Performances of "A Stroll in the Prater" are:

o Mar. 18 -- 3:00 pm – Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta;

o Mar. 22 –7:30 pm – Jewish Museum, 267 Congress St., Portland;

o Mar. 23 –7:00 pm – Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., Rockport;

o Mar. 24 –4:00 pm – St. Columba's Church, 32 Emery Lane, Boothbay Harbor; and

o Mar. 25 – Sunday – 3:00 pm – Unitarian Church, 15 Pleasant St., Brunswick.

Performances of "Obsessions" are:

o May 5 – 4:00 pm – St. Columba's Church, 32 Emery Lane, Boothbay Harbor;

o May 6 – 3:00 pm – Unitarian Church, 15 Pleasant St., Brunswick;

o May 10 – 7:30 pm – Jewish Museum, 267 Congress St., Portland;

o May 11 – 7:00 pm – Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., Rockport; and

o May 13 – 3:00 pm – Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta.

The DaPonte String Quartet is Maine's premier string ensemble. Founded in 1991 in Philadelphia, it moved to Maine over 20 years ago and now performs more than 40 times a year state-wide and year-round, as well as touring the Northeast.

Tickets are $25, and are available at www.DaPonte.org, at Sherman's Books in Damariscotta, Camden, and Boothbay Harbor; Longfellow Books in Portland; or Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick. More information: (207) 529-4555.