The chamber music festival festival runs July 27-August 12 at the Menlo School in Atherton, California, and St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. Performers include the Emerson, Miami, Mir‹, and St. Laurence String Quartets; pianists Claude Frank, Jeffrey Kahane, and Gilbert Kalish; violinist Joseph Silverstein; cellist Ralph Kirshbaum; and violists Cynthia Phelps and Geraldine Walther.

The repertoire includes all 16 Beethoven string quartets; sonatas, trios, and other chamber music by the composer; and works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Weber, Ives and others.

The husband-and-wife team of Finckel, cellist of the Emerson Quartet, and pianist Wu Han launched Music@Menlo with a one-day event in 2002; a full-length festival followed in 2003. The event now boasts its own in-house recording label, Music@Menlo Live. In addition, performances from the festival will be heard on Public Radio International's Classical 24 feed.