The DaPonte String Quartet’s second series of the season takes listeners on a stroll through Vienna, home to the world’s oldest amusement park (the Prater), in company with two of the Austrian capital's most powerful musical prodigies — Joseph Haydn and Alban Berg — along with British composer Benjamin Britten. “A Stroll in the Prater” has five performances, from March 18-25, in Damariscotta, Portland, Rockport, Boothbay Harbor and Brunswick.

Haydn’s Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2 was unique in its day for letting all four instruments have their moment in the limelight, an honor till then reserved for the violins. Berg’s Opus 3 quartet, is widely admired today as a piece of richly textured music that penetrates directly to the truths of the human heart. Britten's "Simple Symphony" -- "a real crowd pleaser," according to DSQ violist Kirsten Monke - features movements with names like Boisterous Bourrée, Playful Pizzicato, Sentimental Sarabande, and Frolicsome Finale.

Performances of “A Stroll in the Prater” are: Sunday, March 18 at 3 p.m. — Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St., Damariscotta; Thursday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. — Jewish Museum, 267 Congress St., Portland; Friday, March 23 at 7 p.m. — Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., Rockport; Saturday, March 24 at 4 p.m. — St. Columba’s Church, 32 Emery Lane, Boothbay Harbor; and Sunday, March 25 at 3 p.m. — Unitarian Church, 15 Pleasant St., Brunswick.

Tickets are $25, and are available at www.DaPonte.org, at Sherman’s Books in Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta and Camden; Longfellow Books in Portland; Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick.

For more information: 207-529-4555.