An afternoon of masterpieces with Modigliani Quartet on Nov. 12

Part of the Alys Stephens Center’s Salon Series, this performance offers unique, onstage seating. On the program are works by Mozart, Saint-Saëns and Dvořák.

Paris-based Modigliani Quartet will perform with the audience on stage, as part of the Salon Series presented by the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.

The elegant Modigliani Quartet will bring its distinctively French style and astonishing technical finesse to the Alys Stephens Center for an evening of string quartet masterpieces. The group’s “Gallic cool” (The New York Times), with its undercurrent of passion, crisp articulation and rich timbres, is the perfect match for a well-crafted program that highlights the quartet’s individual and communal brilliance. This performance offers salon-style, onstage seating that includes a reception.

On the program for its 2 p.m. Alys Stephens Center performance is Mozart’s Quartet in D Major, K. 575; Saint-Saëns’ Quartet No. 1 in E minor, Op. 112; and Dvořák’s Quartet in F Major, Op. 96 “American.”

This performance is part of the ASC Salon Series, which offers the unique setting of onstage seating in the Jemison Concert Hall and a post-performance meet-and-greet. Tickets are $55 for the performance onstage seating and post-show VIP reception, or $35 for the performance with choral balcony seating.

Tickets are $55 for the performance onstage seating and post-show VIP reception, or $35 for the performance with choral balcony seating.

UAB students and faculty may purchase $25 tickets; a limited number of $25 tickets are available for each show. All UAB students, faculty and staff may receive a 20 percent discount on single tickets. For tickets, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.

Modigliani Quartet, formed by four close friends in 2003, is a regular guest of the world’s top venues and finest string quartet series. In the current and upcoming seasons, the quartet will tour in the United States, Japan, Korea, China and extensively in Europe.

In 2014, members of the Modigliani Quartet became artistic directors of the Rencontres Musicales d’Evian, a festival created in 1976 by Antoine Riboud and made famous through its former legendary artistic director Mstislav Rostropovich, after a pause of 13 years. The joint efforts of the Evian Resort and Modigliani Quartet have brought fast success, and the festival has again become one of Europe’s major and most publicized summer musical events.

The quartet has been recording for the Mirare label since 2008 and has released seven recordings, all internationally acclaimed by critics and awarded prizes. The next release will be a complete recording of the Schumann string quartets in fall 2017.

Thanks to the generosity and support of private sponsors, the Modigliani Quartet plays on four outstanding Italian instruments: Amaury Coeytaux plays a 1773 violin by Guadagnini; Loic Rio plays a 1734 violin by Alessandro Gagliano; Laurent Marfaing plays a 1660 viola by Luigi Mariani; and François Kieffer plays a 1706 cello by Matteo Goffriller.