DeKALB | The Vermeer Quartet awaits it’s final year of performance. This year will mark the group’s 33rd season at NIU.

The quartet — first violinist Shmuel Ashkenasi, second violinist Mathias Tacke, violist Richard Young and cellist Marc Johnson — is prepared for retirement.

“Though we have carefully planned our retirement over a period of several years, it is certainly a sad prospect for all of us to contemplate the end of this era in our lives,” said Johnson. “One of the hardest things for us to think about is the idea of leaving behind our ‘home stadium’ crowd.”

Today’s performance will focus on the preservation of music between generations. The program will include: Schubert’s Quartet in E-flat major, D.87; Shostakovich’s Quartet #8, Op.110 and Mendelssohn’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 44 #2.

The performance will begin at 8 p.m. in the Music Building’s Concert Hall.

“The eighth quartet by Dmitry Shostakovich was written in 1960 ‘in memory of the victims of fascism and war.’ Even though this powerful music was motivated by the particular atrocities of Hitler and Stalin, its echoes are no less terrifying and tragic when we listen to it now,” said Young.

“We will be spending the entire season doing our best to honor the respect and enthusiasm that our NIU audience has shown us over the years,” said Johnson.

The quartet comprised of classically-trained string musicians formed in 1969.

A standard of two violins, viola and cello allows the musicians to play a variety of music.

More than 200 musical works have been performed and presented during the quartet’s residence in DeKalb.

Pieces have ranged from standard string quartets, contemporary scores and several collaborations with colleagues.

The quartet earned a trio of Grammy nominations. An interpretation of Haydn’s “The Seven Last Words of Christ” earned a nomination in 1994. A recording of piano quintets by Russian composers Shostakovich and Schnittke was chosen for the “Best Chamber Music Performance” category in 2003 and this year “Bartok: Complete String Quartets” earned a spot in “Best Chamber Music Performance.”

Adrian Finiak is a music critic for the Northern Star.