ORONO – Spanish artist Joan Miro painted evocative images linked more closely to the languages of emotion and dreams than to any mundane grammar of reality. Some of that intensity of passion and imagery is reflected in the music of the young quartet named in honor of the artist, The Miro String Quartet, which will appear at 3 p.m. Sunday in Minsky Hall at the University of Maine.

Founded only six years ago at the prestigious Oberlin Conservatory, the quartet, whose members even now range in age from a mere 24 to 29, has managed to rack up a very respectable number of awards and prizes in its relatively brief span of existence. Some of these include the Walter W. Naumberg Foundation Chamber Music Award for 2000, as well as a first prize win at the 1998 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

In an interview with the ensemble’s cellist Joshua Gindele, he revealed that there is much more work to running a successful string quartet than the obvious rehearsals and performances.

“The one thing that people don’t see is that we are self-employed. It’s a business partnership,” said Gindele. “We have figured out that each of the four of us is good at different aspects of the string quartet career: being in touch with management, taking care of finances and travel, organizing the program, planning rehearsals so we can learn new music, and,” he added with a laugh, “doing interviews for newspapers and the media. We even have weekly or biweekly business meetings.”

All of the planning and attention to detail is necessary to coordinate the ensemble’s activities, which involve 120 concerts a year and 21/2 to three weeks of travel each month.

When asked about the effects of this schedule on the group, Gindele admitted, “Oh yes, you’re right about us being close. It’s kind of like being married to three other people at the same time. … It can be difficult.” He paused a moment and then added, “We’ve now learned to request separate floors in hotels so we don’t hear each other practice the very first thing every morning!”

A new phase for the young group comes in May when they take up their appointment as faculty artists-in-residence at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University in Ohio. One of the more interesting aspects of that residency will include working with possibly two graduate assistant string quartets.

“There are a lot of string quartets from major conservatories that are looking for places to go to work on an advanced degree, but they really want to stay together as a quartet. There are few opportunities for preformed groups to do that,” said Gindele.

Looking ahead to this weekend, Gindele mentioned that the quartet has been in Maine before and is looking forward to its visit to Orono. “It’s so beautiful up there, we’re excited to just come up and … run around!”

And, of course, they’ll be doing more than sightseeing. Sunday’s program appears to be a well-balanced presentation, with works of Mozart and Bartok in the first half, and concluding with the Mendelssohn String Quartet, Op. 80.

The Mendelssohn piece, Gindele noted, “was the last work he ever wrote. And he wrote it because his sister Fanny Mendelssohn had just passed away. Apparently she died from a paralytic stroke while conducting her choir. He was totally devastated. This piece goes through all the stages of grief: denial and anger. It’s maybe not the best piece structurally, although it’s very good, but he was really emoting all through it.”

The Miro String Quartet will perform 3 p.m. Sunday at Minsky Hall. For ticket information, call the Maine Center for the Arts at 581-1755.