The University of Wisconsin's Pro Arte String Quartet is taking a break this semester.

Well, a part-time break -- from teaching, but not from performing.

"It's like a half-sabbatical," says cellist Parry Karp, the senior member of the group that will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2012 with several commissions.

That's because three of the four members (second violinist Suzanne Beia is the exception) hold joint appointments that are half-time performing and half-time teaching.

Plans call for the members of the quartet (the other two are first violinist David Perry and violist Sally Chisholm) to meet in Luca, Italy, for a just over a week during the second week of October. They will perform concerts in Florence and Urbino, and also examine some manuscripts by the Classical-era composer Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805), who is known for his string quartets and cello quintets. Karp will also perform Saint-Saens' rarely performed Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra and Richard Strauss' "Romance" with the Surrey Chamber Orchestra in Surrey, England.

Second violinist Beia will continue her duties as assistant concertmaster for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and concertmaster for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

My old friend The Ear is a little disappointed that all of the Pro Arte concerts are on Thursdays nights, known in The Ear's household as school nights. (They include a Dec. 6 concert with a Boccherini string quartet to be decided after research is done, Maurice Ravel's String Quartet and Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" String Quartet. Then on Feb. 7, another Thursday, the Pro Arte performs with Juilliard pianist Robert MacDonald, who also performs with the violinist Midori, in Frank Bridge's Piano Quintet with the rest of the program to be decided. There is one exception: a Saturday late afternoon performance (5:30 p.m.), of a unknown program on April 19.)

Such a well attended, top-quality, high-profile group, says The Ear, deserves a high-profile performance time.

Like Friday and Saturday nights at 8.

You gotta agree with The Ear.

Some higher ups have said the Pro Arte members themselves chose the dates. The first concert (an awesome event with Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak works) was a Thursday because violist Chisholm left for a tour of Tibet the next day.

But The Ear also hears that the best dates were already given to other individuals and groups in a revolving way to satisfy demands for equal treatment at the UW School of Music and to meet pressure from the School of Music to program on Thursday nights and to avoid back-to-back Friday and Saturday night concerts. In addition, setting performance dates for the Pro Arte is compounded by its members' conflicting obligations to other groups like the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

All understandable.

But all too bad.

The Pro Arte deserves better.

So does the listening public.

Let me know what you think, and I'll pass it on.

PICKS FOR THE WEEKEND:

The Ear says get to the opening of the Madison Symphony Orchestra's 82nd season tonight, Saturday or Sunday in Overture Hall. It features some rarely heard but beautiful or dramatic works: Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 and Claude Debussy's "Three Nocturnes" with the Madison Symphony Women's Chorus as well as two little known works for organ and orchestra, Samuel Barber's "Toccata Festiva" and Alexandre Guilmant's Symphony No. 2 for Organ and Orchestra," both of the latter with British organ virtuoso Thomas Trotter.

The Eye says go to the camouflage show "Deceptively Simple" in the UW Gallery of Design, 1300 Linden Drive. "It's amazing how the fashion industry can repackage deadly war into lively fashion -- shirts, jeans, baseball caps, even backpacks," says The Eye.

And The Mouth?

"Try one of the three performances in the Overture Center's Promenade Hall by Kanopy Dance," said The Mouth, who refused to say more but inexplicably started undulating rhythmically.