In addition to the Beethoven cycle, the Emerson will also perform works by Mendelssohn, Schubert, Ives, Bart‹k and Shostakovich, along with the world premiere of a new quartet by Kaija Saariaho called Terra Memoria.

The Perspectives series also includes a Discovery Day event, a training workshop and two Young Artists Concerts. The workshop will feature three young ensembles — the Vinca, Le Musiche, and Akademos Quartets — performing Beethoven quartets in master classes and concerts. An all-day symposium will include an opening keynote address by Edmund Morris, author of Beethoven: The Universal Composer, a dramatic reading, a lecture-demonstration, a film screening and a panel discussion.

Formed in 1976, the Emerson String Quartet — violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel — is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary season. The ensemble recently marked its 20th year as Deutsche Grammophon recording artists with the release of an all-Brahms disc comprising the three Quartets and the Piano Quintet with Leon Fleisher.

"Beethoven's quartets transcend their historical context," said Drucker, "they cast a long shadow over virtually every composer that followed, and irrevocably changed the musical landscape."

A companion website, featuring interviews with members of the Emerson Quartet, will be launched in May at www.carnegiehall.org.