The award-winning Parker Quartet will be the USC Quartet-in-Residence for 2013. 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 will be in Columbia for the weeklong residency in April and again in November, the first time the USC School of Music will have a chamber music residency. In addition to public concerts and a public master class, Parker Quartet members will coach chamber music and give informances at high school programs in South Carolina schools.

Chamber Residency Concerts

Tuesday, November 19, 7:30 p.m.
Chamber Innovista: Parker Quartet Concert
School of Music Recital Hall

Program:
Schubert “Quartettsatz”
Adès “Arcadiana”
Beethoven Op.127

Adults $15; senior citizens and students $5; Capitol Tickets 803-251-2222; online or Koger Box Office, corner of Greene and Park Streets.

Sunday, November 24, 5:00 p.m.
Parker Quartet Recital
School of Music Recital Hall – FREE

Program:
Professor Robert Jesselson, cello, joins Parker Quartet for this concert.
Mendelssohn Op.44 No. 1 D Major
Schubert Cello Quintet

Chamber Residency Coaching and Master Classes

Wednesday, November 20, 1:25
Seminar
Coaching USC chamber groups

Friday, November 22, 7:30 p.m.
Chamber Music Master Class (open to the public)
School of Music Recital Hall

Saturday, November 23
Coaching USC chamber groups

Monday, November 25, 1:25
Individual instrument master classes for violin, viola and cello

Chamber Residency Outreach

Wednesday, November 20
Columbia public schools

Thursday, November 21
Charleston School of the Arts

Saturday, November 23
Informance for Suzuki Strings and String Project students

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Monday, April 15, 2013
Parker Quartet Sampler Concert
School of Music Recital Hall – FREE
The program includes Mozart’s String Quartet in F major, K. 590 and Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor

Tuesday, April 16, 2013                               
Chamber Music Master Class (open to the public)
School of Music Recital Hall – FREE
The community may attend the master class and observe student coachings by the acclaimed Quartet.

Friday, April 19, 2013                    
Parker Quartet Concert
Recital Hall, USC School of Music Recital Hall
The program includes Beethoven’s Opus 18, No. 3, Ligeti’s Quartet No. 2 and Dvorak’s Opus 61.
Concert tickets: $15; $12 for seniors, military and USC faculty/staff; $5 students. For tickets, call 803-251-2222 or online at www.capitoltickets.com. Tickets purchased at the door- cash only.

Parker Quartet outreach:

April 17, 2013
Outreach “informances” (short performance and coachings) in Greenville, S.C.
Greenville Fine Arts Center and SC Governor’s School for the Arts

April 18, 2013
Outreach “informances” in Columbia, SC
Lexington High School and Dutch Fork High School

Parker Quartet donor events:

Donors are invited to a champagne reception before the Monday concert and a private reception to meet the Quartet members after the Friday concert. Email Teah Weiss or call 803-777-4006 for more information.

Parker Quartet student offerings:

April 16 and 18, 2013 - all day/evening coaching sessions
April 19, 2013 - Seminar for entrepreneurship music students

 

Tayloe Harding, School of Music dean said about the residency,

The mission of the USC School of Music is to  prepare students for professional careers and leadership in music, serve as a cultural and educational center of excellence for South Carolina, generate creative activities in music that have impact, and to provide meaningful music experiences for all university constituents and friends. One of the chief ways we can meet all of these objectives with a single program is to engage in a meaningful residency with world-class musicians. The brand new Parker Quartet residency is our first sustained effort in this arena as it will bring quality and distinction to each of those four aspects of our mission.

The Quartet began its professional touring career in 2002 and garnered international acclaim in 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition and 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.

Parker Quartet members, violinists Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim, will present outreach and informance programs to the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts, the Fine Arts Center of Greenville and Columbia area schools during their residency at USC. The Quartet is known for their k-12 educational programs, which are based on age group, musical experience and curriculum and help to educate young people about string quartets and what a composer does.

Robert Jesselson, professor of cello at USC, said, "I grew up in New York City having the opportunity to hear all the great string quartets of that generation. I would love for people in Columbia to have the same kind of opportunity to experience the exquisite joys of chamber music. The string quartet literature is the most rarefied, sophisticated and intimate in the repertoire. It draws the listener into a world that is sublime and intricate, and expresses the whole range of human emotions. It is a delicate but intense world in miniature."

This residency has been made possible by a grant from the Provost's office. For more information about the Parker Quartet, visit their website at: http://www.parkerquartet.com/