Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009, Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons.
Performance highlights from the quartet’s 2010-11 season include a European tour, with appearances at the Festival De Musique De Menton, Festival du Comminges, Privatmusikverein Nürnberg, and Musikverein in Vienna; Cleveland Quartet Award concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Krannert Center for the Arts, and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society; appearances with violist Kim Kashkashian at the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, and Amherst College; and a Midwest tour with Music Alliance, a new concert series co-presented by The Friends of Chamber Music–Kansas City and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, which included concerts and residencies in five Midwestern cities and drew critical acclaim for the quartet’s performances across the region. Also this season, the quartet partners with Grammy Award-winning producer Judith Sherman to launch HaydnLIVE!, a live recording project featuring a series of all-Haydn performances at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Virginia Arts Festival.
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read full bioDaniel Chong , violin,
Karen Kim, violin
Jessica Bodner, viola
Kee-Hyun Kim, cello
Hailed by The New York Times as “something extraordinary,” the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. In 2009, Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-2011 seasons.
Performance highlights from the quartet’s 2010-11 season include a European tour, with appearances at the Festival De Musique De Menton, Festival du Comminges, Privatmusikverein Nürnberg, and Musikverein in Vienna; Cleveland Quartet Award concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Krannert Center for the Arts, and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society; appearances with violist Kim Kashkashian at the Chamber Music Society of Philadelphia, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, and Amherst College; and a Midwest tour with Music Alliance, a new concert series co-presented by The Friends of Chamber Music–Kansas City and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance, which included concerts and residencies in five Midwestern cities and drew critical acclaim for the quartet’s performances across the region. Also this season, the quartet partners with Grammy Award-winning producer Judith Sherman to launch HaydnLIVE!, a live recording project featuring a series of all-Haydn performances at the New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston, and the Virginia Arts Festival.
In May 2010, The Parker Quartet finished their second year as Quartet-in-Residence with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO). The residency, which was the first of its kind for the SPCO, involved individual instrument performances with the orchestra, chamber music presentations, and a robust educational program with public schools through the SPCO’s CONNECT program. During the 2009-2010 season, the quartet was also the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and American Public Media (APM). The residency included performance and interview broadcasts on Performance Today and Classical FM radio, chamber concerts in St. Paul, and regional concerts and educational residencies as part of MPR’s Troubadour Concert Series throughout Minnesota and the surrounding states. These experiences and activities were broadcast to MPR and APM listeners through video and audio interviews, blogs, and interactive web technology. The residency also included a national quartet competition organized by MPR and APM, culminating in a master class and studio performance with the quartet in May 2010.
Successful early concert touring in Europe helped the quartet forge a relationship with Zig-Zag Territoires, which released their debut commercial recording of Bartok’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5 in July 2007. The disc received high praise by numerous critics including Gramophone: “The Parkers’ Bartok spins the illusion of spontaneous improvisation… they have absorbed the language; they have the confidence to play freely with the music and the instinct to bring it off.” The quartet’s second recording, of György Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2 and Andante & Allegretto, was released on Naxos in December 2009 to critical acclaim. The Ligeti recording won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.
The Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music Magazine, and on Musical America.com for their pioneering performances for audiences in non-traditional venues. In addition to concerts in bars and clubs nationwide, the ensemble was the first String Quartet-in-Residence at Barbès Bar and Performance Space in Brooklyn, New York, in 2007. The residency embraced a series of collaborative concerts with artists of various genres including jazz, folk, and world music.
The quartet spends a great deal of time each year working with young musicians through educational residency activities. In addition to its previous work with the SPCO’s CONNECT music education program, the group has served as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center and the ensemble-in-residence at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival.
The Parker Quartet’s members hold graduate degrees in performance and chamber music from the New England Conservatory of Music and were part of the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program.
Last updated May 2011. Contact Opus 3 Artists for the most up-to-date version.
Bela Bartok String Quartet in A minor sound clip courtesy of
