The Colorado Quartet in Harmony on Stage and Off

Clearly the interpersonal attunement of members of the Colorado Quartet--all of whom, despite the name, live near Hackensack, N.J.--is a major factor of the ensemble’s success. They finish each other’s sentences, express similar opinions, engage in easy verbal interplay.

“We know each other inside out,” said violist Francesca Martin. “That makes playing together more enjoyable.”

The foursome--violinists Julie Rosenfeld, 29, and Deborah Redding, 33, Martin, 31, and cellist Sharon Prater, 33--will be making several Southern California appearances this week. They perform tonight in Laguna Beach, Friday night at the Doheny Mansion for the Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary’s College, Saturday night at UC Riverside and Sunday afternoon in Beckman Auditorium at Caltech (the last two with clarinetist James Campbell).

In all, they will log nearly 200 days on the road this year, a schedule they have maintained since April, 1983, when, after just seven months together, they won two prestigious chamber music competitions--the Naumburg Award and the Banff International Quartet Competition--within 10 days.

“It was a happy accident that our personalities clicked from Day 1,” Rosenfeld recalled.

“Francie and I had known each other in L.A.--I’m from the San Fernando Valley and she’s from Long Beach--and Debbie and Sharon were founding members. (The group began in 1976 as a University of Colorado student quartet.) So the two halves came together.

“We couldn’t have predicted it would turn out as well as it has,” she added. “We were just babies when we won. Now, we’ve been together six years, and you can tell.”

Each member brings her own strengths to the ensemble. Said Martin, “Debbie is exceptional at mapping out a score, taking a structural approach, while Julie is more intuitive.” Added Rosenfeld, “Sharon has the greatest flights of fancy. She keeps us from getting too analytical and also shows us the boundaries of each piece. And Francie has the best ear for intonation.”

As a group, members believe their strongest assets are their intensity and the effort they make to infuse every work with the musical style of its time.

“We try to be chameleons,” Redding noted. “We change our whole approach with each piece.”

All four have performing ties to the Southland. Rosenfeld studied at USC and was concertmaster of the 1982 L.A. Philharmonic Institute Orchestra. Martin, a CalArts graduate, played in the same ensemble. Prater, a native of Pueblo, Colo., and Redding, from New York, were Coleman Audition first-prize winners with the original quartet.

The four all have mixed emotions about their life style, which incorporates three to four hours of rehearsal and up to three hours of individual practice daily, plus 100 concerts annually in the United States and Europe. Indeed, Rosenfeld and Martin’s predecessors had dropped out because they were not prepared to commit to the demands of a career.

“Touring isn’t a bit glamorous,” Rosenfeld said. “And the life of a professional touring musician is the least conducive to having a family life. How does one make peace with that? One makes compromises.”

Perhaps most affected is Prater, the only married member, whose husband of four years, Peter Sever, works for a Canadian gold mining company.

“It’s very hard to sustain a relationship,” she said, recalling that her second-anniversary celebration consisted of an embrace at Kennedy Airport in New York.

“I used to believe you could have it all. You can’t, though I’m still hoping for a solution. But the quartet is very important to me. We have an opportunity most people don’t get.”

Added Rosenfeld: “If the time comes that any of us decides to become a full-time mommy, we’ll leave the group.”

For the time being, the quartet’s future seems assured. Besides touring, they are planning to follow up the January release of their first recording, “The Colorado Quartet Plays Mozart,” with one of early Beethoven. And learning new works is a constant goal.

“Our motto,” said Prater, “could be, ‘Too much repertoire, too little time.’ ”