The DaPonte String Quartet begins August with an uplifting concert of Inspired Voices and ends it on a very different note: with a celebration of Scandalous Music.

The Inspired Voices concert spans a range of times and styles, starting with the “father of the string quartet” Franz Josef Haydn’s classic “String Quartet in F Minor,” followed by Schubert’s stunning masterpiece “Death and the Maiden,” and ending with Chinese composer Tan Dun’s impressionistic “Eight Colors.”

“Death and the Maiden,” is a dark and sensuous work that uses text from the poem “Der Tod und ds Madchen” by Matthias Claudius. Schubert’s masterpiece was not published or even performed until after the composer died in poverty and obscurity at the age of 31. 

Tan Dun is known to movie-goers for his film scores such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Using sounds and techniques he learned as a musician in the Peking Opera, Dun creates eight movements that evoke an image or an atmosphere.

Inspired Voices will be performed at the Up-Island Church in Islesboro on Saturday, Aug. 11, in a matinee performance at Boothbay’s Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on Sunday, Aug. 12, and at the Kellogg Church in Harpswell on Tuesday, Aug. 14. 

The DaPonte Quartet wraps up the summer with the crowd-pleasing Scandalous Music Festival at Boothbay’s Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens on August 22, 26 and 29. The Festival features provocative and scandalizing music from Ravel, Piazzola, Brahms, Schumann, Schoenberg, Britten and Rogers & Hart, as well as an improvisation on a scandalous theme using audience suggestions. It features guest artists Dr. Jeffrey Goldberg, piano; Joshua Gordon, cello; Lila Brown, viola; and Karol Bennett, soprano.

With the exception of Sunday, Aug. 12, performances, all performances are in the evening. For tickets or more information, visit www.DaPonte.org or call 529-4555.