Caravel, a string quartet featuring a former State College resident, will bring an intimate and modern twist to commonly known chamber music this weekend.

The ensemble will return to State College after its February 2008 performance.

It now comes to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County on Sunday.

The quartet can perform diverse styles of music, often ranging from rock to hip-hop and back to classical again, members said.

"Each piece is its own world," violinist Amie Weiss said.

"It's so different and exciting -- expressive in its own way."

The band's audience usually features a more adult crowd, but after the quartet performed at the Schlow Centre Region Library, they received more attention from a younger fan base.

Some students enjoyed the Schlow performance so much they followed the ensemble to the performance at the church, event organizer Mary Alice Graetzer said.

"We are trying to reach a broad audience," Weiss said.

"Not necessarily people who know classical music -- or even if they know if they like classical music."

The ensemble will perform three pieces, including one from a standard work of Beethoven's and one from a living composer, Weiss said.

A string quartet is a very standard classical ensemble, Weiss said.

Most of the more famous composers have written for string quartets, she said.

But Caravel is trying to expand its horizons, playing other works outside of the standard pieces for which chamber music is commonly known, she said.

Standard orchestras play to large audiences, Weiss said.

However, the quartet's performance is a much more intimate experience.

"Many people have told us that it's really exciting for them to see musicians up close," she said.

Caravel was recently founded in New York and has recently taken residency at the Museum of Biblical Art in Manhattan, where the quartet performs a few times each year.

Weiss graduated from State College Area High School, and said she is happy to come back to State College and she wants to give to the community she has been a part of.

Because she received training from people in the community, Weiss said she would like to also give back by starting a chamber music series right here in State College.

She added that would feature three or four concerts a year.