For anyone who doesn’t want to get up before 4:46 a.m. on this Sunday in June to watch the sunrise, our four KHO string players have rescheduled it for a more leisurely late-morning time. Yet many birds begin singing even before dawn. That is why, even before Joseph Haydn’s quartet—later nicknamed “Sunrise”—his cheerful, playful “Bird Quartet” will be performed, in which the calls of various winged inhabitants of fields, forests, and parks can be recognized in the grace notes, trills, and thirds.

In between: A string quartet by the highly talented Venetian violinist, singer, composer, and Haydn contemporary Maddalena Sirmen (1745–1818), who performed in numerous European countries throughout her career. The six quartets, Op. 3 were published in Paris in 1769 at the same time as Haydn’s six quartets, Op. 9, and, as is now recognized, also play a significant role in music history for the development of the genre.