Sarn Oliver and Friends include (from left): Mariko Smiley (violin), Margaret Tait (cello), Shinya Abe (viola) and Oliver (violin).

MAKAWAO – On Sunday, July 19, at 5 p.m. at A’ali’ikuhonua Creative Arts Center at Seabury Hall, Ebb & Flow Arts will present Sarn Oliver and Friends, a program of string quartets by Samuel Barber, Claude Debussy and Henri Dutilleux.

Admission is free. A pre-concert discussion begins at 4 p.m.

The program comprises great string quartets from the late 19th and 20th centuries.

Barber’s string quartet contains the famous “Adagio for Strings”

Debussy’s only string quartet (1893) revolutionized the medium.

Dutilleux, the recognized successor to composer Olivier Messiaen in French music, composed “Ainsi La Nuit” (Thus the night) in 1976. It is one of the most difficult, yet poignantly beautiful, string quartets of the 20th century. Dutilleux spent five years composing it.

Oliver and his wife, Mariko Smiley, are first violinists in the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Margaret Tait is a cellist with SFSO, and special guest violist/conductor Shinya Abe is from Tokyo. An esteemed chamber musician, Abe recently conducted two Mahler Symphonies in Japan.

On Saturday, July 18, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Oliver will lead a free workshop called “Introduction to Modern Music for children (their parents and general public)” in the Maui Music Conservatory on the second floor of Queen Ka’ahumanu Center. The event is suitable for children five and older.

“This is Sarn Oliver’s fifth appearance in Hawaii, since 2007, care of Ebb & Flow Arts,” stated E&FA Director Robert Pollock.

“He always gathers superb musicians from San Francisco Symphony and elsewhere to grace our concert presentations.” Oliver and Pollock have collaborated since 1985.

The Makana Aloha Foundation provides major underwriting support for this program.

This event is part of E&FA’s annual multi-day, multi-site, international NORTH SOUTH EAST WEST FESTIVAL 2015.

The 2015 festival is produced, in part, with support from the Makana Aloha Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, AHS Foundation, John R. Halligan Charitable Fund, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music, Edward T. Cone Foundation, BMI Foundation, Kosasa Family Foundation (ABC Stores), Central Pacific Bank Foundation, Mayor Arakawa Community Kokua Fund and private contributions.

Ebb & Flow Arts Inc. is a nonprofit presenter of modern music and multimedia events. It was founded in 1999 by composer/pianist Pollock with the aim of building bridges between the arts and connecting artistic expressions and cultures.

E&FA creates a global soundboard and mirror for music and art in Hawaii. The organization also teaches children how to read and write music with “Scaling Haleakala,” an original curriculum.

For more information, visit www.ebbandflowarts.org or call 876-1854.