Grammy-winning string musicians hope to return to campus yearly
For the first time in university history, USC has a quartet-in-residence. The Parker Quartet has been named the School of Music’s first chamber music residency for 2013 and will host a series of concerts and coaching sessions this week.
The internationally known, Grammy-winning string quartet, currently based out of Minneapolis, consists of Daniel Chong and Karen Kim on violin, Jessica Bodner on viola and Kee-Hyun Kim on cello.
“A quartet-in-residence is a very special thing for a university to have,” said Robert Jesselson, a USC professor of cello who was recently named the state’s professor of the year. “Whenever they go out they’ll be using the term ‘quartet-in-residence at USC,’ and this kind of close collaboration with us is just wonderful for students and the community.”
The four musicians have been working together for more than a decade, and Jesselson said evidence of how well they’ve gotten to know each other in that time can be heard in their music; it sounds like only one person is playing.
“It’s really a spectacular kind of music,” he said. “[The string quartet] is some of the most beautiful literature that we have — some of 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.”
The quartet kicked off its first week in residency Monday with public master classes on individual chamber instruments and a free concert at USC’s School of Music Recital Hall, which included Mozart’s “String Quartet in F Major, K. 590” and Debussy’s “String Quartet in G Minor.”
A second concert will take place Friday, and Jesselson said audiences can expect to hear a broad range of “some of the greatest literature from the string quartet,” including the group’s Grammy-winning rendition of Ligeti’s “Quartet No. 2.”
The Parker Quartet’s residency is funded by a visiting scholars grant and in part by the School of Music. Jesselson said the school is currently in the process of collecting additional donations to secure the residency’s continued presence. The quartet is scheduled to return for a similar weeklong series of events in November.
“We’re hoping to make it permanent for them to come in every year,” Jesselson said. “Our goal is to have an endowment that will fund this in the future.”
Following private coaching sessions with students during the day, a public chamber music master class will be offered in the School of Music Recital hall tonight at 7:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, the Parker Quartet will visit the Fine Arts Center and the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts and Humanities in Greenville. As a part of these outreach “informances,” the players will perform a short concert and work with high school musicians.
The quartet will also deliver local informances Thursday at Lexington and Dutch Fork high schools, in addition to coaching USC chamber music students in the evening. A seminar for entrepreneurship music students will be held in the Recital Hall Friday at 1:25 p.m.
The Parker Quartet will perform again at USC’s School of Music Recital Hall Friday at 7:30 p.m. To purchase tickets call 803-251-2222, visit capitoltickets.com or pay cash at the door. Tickets are $15, $12 for seniors, military and USC faculty and staff and $5 for students.