The Parker Quartet
Daniel Chong, Violin
Karen Kim, Violin
Jessica Bodner, Viola
Kee-Hyun Kim, Cello
The 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 received 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.
In May 2010, The Parker Quartet finished its second year as quartet-in-residence with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO). The residency, which was the first of its kind for SPCO, involved individual instrument performances with the orchestra, chamber music presentations, and a robust education program with schools. 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.
Performance highlights from the The Parker Quartet’s 2010 tours in Europe include appearances at Festival de Musique de Menton, Festival du Comminges, Privatmusikverein Nürnberg, and the Musikverein in Vienna. During its 2010–2011 season, the quartet gives Cleveland Quartet Award concerts at the Krannert Center for the Arts at Champaign-Urbana and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society. In addition, they appear in two concerts as part of a live recording project with the Celebrity Series in Boston and the Virginia Arts Festival, featuring six Haydn quartets. In the winter, they appear in concert with Kim Kashkashian at Amherst College and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and will be part of the acoustic check and grand opening festivities for the inaugural season of The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana. The quartet was selected for concerts with Music Alliance, a new concert series founded and co-presented by The Friends of Chamber Music–Kansas City and the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. This series will include performances and residencies in five cities throughout Missouri and Kansas in January 2011.
Successful early concert touring in Europe helped the quartet forge a relationship with Zig-Zag Territoires, which released the quartet’s debut commercial recording of Bartók’s String Quartets Nos. 2 and 5 in July 2007 to critical acclaim. The quartet’s second recording—Ligeti’s String Quartets Nos. 1 and 2, and Andante and Allegretto–was released in December 2009.
The Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music Magazine, and on musicalamerica.com for its pioneering performances in non-traditional venues. In addition to concerts in bars and clubs nationwide, the ensemble became the first quartet-in-residence at Barbès, a bar and performance space in Brooklyn. The residency featured 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 ongoing work through The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’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 NEC’s prestigious Professional String Quartet Training Program.
More Info