It takes tremendous imagination to conceive a program like the one that the Calder Quartet and singer/violinist Iva Bittová presented in such satisfying style on the FUZE! series at the Akron Art Museum on Feb. 17.  The warmth of Hungarian/Czech/Moravian folk-infused writing miraculously folded into the rhythmic complexity and subtleties of a contemporary classical point of view.

Quite simply, the Calder (Benjamin Jacobson, violin; Andrew Bulbrook, violin; Jonathan Moerschel, viola; Eric Byers, cello) is superb. Right at home with them, the understated but charismatic Bittová strolled around the quartet with her violin, punctuating her modal vocal lines with surprising vocal clicks, whoops, whistles and more.

Arrangements of movements from music by Czech composer Leoš Janácek (Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs) and Hungarian composer Béla Bartók (44 Duos for 2 Violins, BB 104, arranged for string quartet by the Calder) were interspersed with movements of a work called Lelekovice by American composer Fred Frith (b. 1949).Though it may sound high-concept, the results were seamless and breathtaking.

As the story goes, Frith was inspired by visiting Bittová’s hometown of Lelekovice, in the Czech Republic. His Lelekovice was a gentle, mysterious descendent of the Czech style, with keening, modal lines of exquisite tenderness and earthy determination. The flow between the interpolated movements, not to mention the tangy freshness of Frith’s contribution, put the program across as authentic and inspired.

Concept aside, it requires artistry to make a program like this succeed. The Calder Quartet — classically trained on the West Coast and at the Juilliard School — played with an extraordinary refinement that was never fussy, always at the service of the musical line and gesture. Together with Bittová, their imagination and their musicianship made this night one to treasure.

The audience in the Art Museum’s intimate Lehner Auditorium was transfixed, sitting in absorbed silence until the concert was done. Afterward, they took advantage of the chance to mingle with the musicians at a reception in the Museum’s lobby.

The concert set the highest of standards for the two to follow in this year’s FUZE! series, a collaboration between two Knight Arts grantees: the Akron Art Museum and Tuesday Musical Association. It’s no stretch to say that this remarkable program wouldn’t have been heard in Akron if not for FUZE!