Miró Quartet Returns to Carmel for Chamber Music Monterey Bay's 60th Season

The Miró Quartet is one of America's most celebrated string quartets, praised as "furiously committed" by The New Yorker and recognized for its "exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity" by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A favorite of Chamber Music Monterey Bay audiences, the Miró returns to Carmel for its sixth performance, during CMMB's 60th anniversary season.

The program opens with a string quartet by Haydn, followed by HOME, a CMMB co-commission by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts that explores the many things "home" can mean. After intermission, the Miró performs a work by Puccini, followed by String Quartet No. 2 by Alberto Ginastera, one of the most important 20th-century composers of the Americas, whose music carries the spirit of Argentine folk traditions, bold modernist language and deep emotion.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the Miró Quartet has won first prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, and in 2005 became the first ensemble ever awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Since 2003, it has been quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music. The Quartet was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for its album Home, on Pentatone. The ensemble takes its name and inspiration from the Spanish artist Joan Miró.

Saturday, Dec. 5, 2026, 7:30 p.m., Sunset Center Theater, Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Individual tickets are $30–$75. CMMB's "Kids Up Front & Free" program offers free tickets for young music lovers (grades 3–12) and music teachers, with $15 tickets for chaperones. Active military and full-time students are eligible for discounts. Tickets are available at www.chambermusicmontereybay.org or by calling the CMMB office at 831-625-2212, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.