SAN FRANCISCO Thursday's concert in Herbst Theatre, a joint appearance with the Johannes String Quartet presented by San Francisco Performances, will be the Guarneri's last Bay Area appearance. And when the concert season comes to an end in May, the four musicians - who also include second violinist John Dalley and cellist Peter Wiley - will go their separate ways. But what a journey it's been. The quartet first assembled in 1964 at the Marlboro Music Festival in Marlboro, Vt., after having known each other as students at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia; at the time, the lineup included three musicians in their 20s and an older colleague, cellist David Soyer, who retired from the group in 2001.
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