Calder Quartet in concert at Conn

Some classical ensembles try to find a niche, specializing in a specific era or in new works hot off the laserprinter. The Calder Quartet, appearing at Connecticut College Friday, just won the 2009 ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award, yet it is just as likely to perform a mainstream program such at the one scheduled here, adding a dash of their adventuresome spirit.

The California ensemble will be performing well-known works that span eras and styles. They will play Stravinsky's 1914 Three Pieces for String Quartet, a key work in his evolution from an explosive interpreter of Russian folk idioms into the spare, neo-Classicist he became. This piece will be the sorbet to cleanse the palate between two big emotional works by Schubert and Janácek.

The concert opens with Schubert's vast Quartet No. 15 in G major, an excursion through light and dark, known to Woody Allen film fans for its starring role on the soundtrack of "Crimes and Misdemeanors." And the program ends with Janácek's 1928 expressionist masterpiece, his Quartet No. 2, called "Intimate Letters."

It's a program full of vivid, contrasting works, the sort of thing Calder is known for. The ensemble just finished a tour with the head-banging rocker Andrew W.K., so they're adept at risk-taking.

But considering their track record, rave reviews in the standard repertoire and the fine program scheduled here, Friday's concert seems no-risk.

Calder Quartet, 8 p.m. Friday, John C. Evans Hall, Connecticut College, Mohegan Avenue, New London; $22 (seniors $20, students $11); (860) 439-2787; http://onstage.conncoll.edu.