Submitted photo Summit Avenue Music Series presents the Pro Arte Quartet, featuring violinists David Perry, Suzanne Beia, violist Sally Chisholm, and cellist Parry Karp

NEW ULM — The Summit Ave Music Series is thrilled to present the second concert of its season on Sunday, Jan. 27, at 3 p.m. in the Martin Luther College Chapel of the Christ.

The concert features the Pro Arte Quartet (PAQ), described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “One of the greatest quartets of our time.” Founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912, the PAQ became one of the most celebrated ensembles in Europe in the first half of the 20th century and was named Court Quartet to the Queen of Belgium. Its world reputation blossomed in 1919 when the quartet began the first of many tours that enticed notable composers such as Milhaud, Honegger, Martin, and Casella to write new works for the ensemble. In addition, Bartók dedicated his fourth quartet to the PAQ (1927), and in 1936 PAQ premiered Barber’s Op. 11 quartet, with the now-famous “Adagio for Strings” as its slow movement.

The Pro Arte made its New York debut in 1926 and toured the United States frequently. The quartet was performing in Madison, Wis. in May 1940 when Nazi forces invaded Belgium. The University of Wisconsin responded to the emergency by offering the quartet a permanent campus home, the first such arrangement at a major American university. The UW Pro Arte residency became a model of artist residencies that is now widely emulated throughout the country.

As the first and only quartet ever to reach its centennial anniversary (2012), the Pro Arte’s 100th birthday was the occasion for a grand multi-year celebration.

Current PAQ members, together since 1995, are David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violin; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello. Together, they have recorded works of Mendelssohn, Dvorák, Rhodes, Shapey, Sessions, Fennelly, Diesendruck, and the centennial commissions.

Purchase tickets in advance through SummitAvenueMusic.com/tickets/, at the New Ulm Chamber of Commerce (1 N. Minnesota St.), or call 507-233-9141 to leave a message. Individual tickets are $13 (general) and $5 (students). Tickets may also be purchased at the door on the day of the concert.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and from the New Ulm Area Foundation.