Since its formation in 2008, the Tesla Quartet has been showered with critical accolades, released two recordings, hired a manager and lined up a full schedule at major concert halls around the world.

Even so, life as a professional string quartet has been a hand-to-mouth existence. The four players, aged 34 to 38, have long relied on relatives, friends and concert presenters for temporary housing, while stashing their few possessions in a storage locker. Only during the past year did their advance bookings give them the confidence and means to rent their own apartments in New York.

And then, in early March, their delicate world fell apart.

Tesla was scheduled to perform at Rockefeller University in Manhattan on March 6, and was wrapping up several weeks of rehearsals of Tchaikovsky’s First Quartet, when one of the violinists, Michelle Lie, opened her email. The university was canceling its next three recitals — starting with Tesla’s, the following day.

Then came the following week’s scheduled performance at the Century Association, which suspended operations along with many of New York’s other private clubs.