The world renowned Vermeer Quartet will perform at 8 p.m. today at the Music Building’s Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. Joining the quartet will be NIU piano professor William Goldenberg.

With performances in nearly every major city in North and South America, Europe and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet has achieved an international status as one of the world’s finest ensembles.

The quartet’s members, Shmuel Ashkenasi and Mathias Tacke, violins; Richard Young, viola; and Marc Johnson, cello, also are members of NIU’s School of Music faculty, where the quartet has been in residence since 1970.

Honored as the “most outstanding studio teachers” in Illinois by the American String Teachers Associates, they have prepared scores of violinists, violists and cellists for successful careers.

Their numerous recordings include the Beethoven cycle and works by Schubert, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Brahms, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Schnittke.

The quartet’s recording of Haydn’s “The Last Seven Words of Christ” was nominated for a Grammy in 1995. Its recording of piano quintets by Russian composers Shostakovich and Schnittke with noted pianist Boris Berman was nominated this year.

The evening’s performance will include Schubert’s Quartet in E-flat major, Op.125 No. 1, Lutoslawski’s String Quartet and Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-Flat major, Op.44.

The concert is free and open to all. For more information, call 753-1546.