Daniel Chong, violin
Ken Hamao, violin
Jessica Bodner, viola
Kee-Hyun Kim, cello
Hailed by the New York Times as “something extraordinary”. According to the washington post, it has “exceptional virtuosity and imaginative interpretation”.
Formed in 2002, the Parker Quartet has quickly distinguished itself as one of the most distinguished ensembles of its generation. Hailed by the New York Times as “something extraordinary”, according to the Washington Post it has “exceptional virtuosity and imaginative playing”. The Boston Globe hailed his “extreme precision and spectacular sense of urgency.” After winning first prizes at the Bordeaux International Competition and the New York Concert Artist Guild, the quartet was thrust onto the international stage. In 2009, the quartet was awarded the prestigious ‘Cleveland Quartet Award’ by Chamber Music America for the 2009-2011 seasons, and in 2011, the quartet won a Grammy Award for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’. In 2014, the Parker Quartet joined the Harvard University Music Faculty as Blodgett Artists in Residence.
In 2012, the Parker Quartet received a Music Creation Grant from Chamber Music America. This enabled them to commission and perform a contemporary work of their choice. This resulted in the work ‘Capriccio’ by American composer Jeremy Gill.
Following the quartet’s triumph at the Bordeaux Competition, the quartet forged a relationship with the European record company Zig-Zag Territoires. A first recording of Bartok’s string quartets was released in July 2007 to critical acclaim. According to Gramophone, “Bartok’s (the Parker Quartet’s) interpretation gives the illusion of spontaneous improvisation … they have absorbed the language; they have the confidence to play freely with the music and the instinct to put it off.” The quartet’s second recording, György Ligeti’s complete works for string quartet, was released on the Naxos label in December 2009. The CD was also critically acclaimed and won a Grammy Award in 2011 for ‘Best Chamber Music Performance’.
Founded in Boston in 2002, the quartet is based there again today through its residency at Harvard University. The quartet is also guest quartet-in-residence at the University of South Carolina. From 2008 to 2013, the quartet spent considerable time in Saint Paul Minnesota where it was a guest artist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (2008-2010), Minnesota Public Radio (2009-2010), the University of Minnesota (2011-2012), and the University of St. Thomas (2012-2014).
Members of the Parker Quartet are graduates of the New England Conservatory of Music and between 2006-2008 were part of the Professional String Quartet Program. Their most influential mentors include the Cleveland Quartet, Kim Kashkashian, György Kurtág, and Rainer Schmidt.
