Parker Quartet Appointed Quartet-in-Residence at Walnut Hill School for the Arts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, July 20, 2023
 

(Natick, MA) -- Walnut Hill School for the Arts today announces the GRAMMY Award-winning Parker Quartet as its Quartet-in-Residence for the 2023-24 school year. The partnership is unique among professional mentorship relationships as it is the only one of its kind in a high school environment for gifted musicians.

“Inviting a world-renowned ensemble like the Parker Quartet to Walnut Hill is absolutely a thrill,” says Walnut Hill Head of School Eric Barber. “This is a testament to the exceptional artistry of our music students as we celebrate 50 years this year as a global leader in the arts.”

Founded and currently based in Boston, the Parker Quartet comprises Daniel Chong and Ken Hamao (violins), Jessica Bodner (viola), and Walnut Hill alumnus Kee-Hyun Kim ’01 (cello). The Quartet’s numerous honors include winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the 2005 Bordeaux Competition, and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award. The members of the Parker Quartet also serve as Professors of the Practice and Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University’s Department of Music. The group spends its summers on the faculty of the Banff Centre’s Evolution: Quartet program.

“I am so excited to be returning to Walnut Hill with my quartet for this important chamber music residency at my alma mater,” says Kee-Hyun Kim. “We look forward to engaging with these talented and precocious minds, working with the amazing faculty, and being immersed in this truly unique and uplifting environment.”

Celebrated cellist and New England Conservatory faculty member Paul Katz notes, “The Parker Quartet is certainly one of the finest string quartets the world has produced in the past twenty years. Additionally, they are gifted, dedicated teachers and exemplary human beings. To study with them at a young age is an extraordinary opportunity.”

Selected activities the Parker Quartet will engage in throughout the 2023-24 school year:

• Introducing the group to the Walnut Hill community, the Quartet will perform a concert alongside student musicians at Rockport Music on September 30 celebrating Walnut Hill’s year-long celebration of 50 years in the arts.
• During Walnut Hill’s Kaleidoscope program, the Quartet will lead a string orchestra with the Quartet as principal players performing alongside students. The Quartet will work with students throughout January, culminating in a concert on January 25.
• The Quartet will conduct multiple sessions across the school year with string players to develop best practices in terms of rehearsal techniques, score study, rehearsal etiquette, etc.
• The Residency will include monthly master classes with individual Quartet members.
• The Quartet will work with student composers and will perform student works. Individual members of the Quartet will offer coaching to string chamber groups.

Visit www.walnuthillarts.org/arts-high-school/music/the-parker-quartet for more information.

Learn more about the Parker Quartet at www.parkerquartet.com.

About Walnut Hill School for the Arts
Founded in 1893, Walnut Hill School for the Arts is located in Natick, Massachusetts, within the Boston metropolitan area. As one of the premier boarding and day schools in the United States, the School provides an immersive and intensive learning environment for talented arts students in Grades 9-12 and in post-graduate studies. With areas of focus in music, dance, theater, visual art, and writing, film, and media arts, students from around the world are able to hone their crafts and engage in transformative experiences with professional artists and instructors from Boston Ballet, the New England Conservatory of Music, and other major arts institutions. Walnut Hill alumni include many internationally recognized actors of stage and screen, Pulitzer Prize-winning writers, and musicians and dancers at a number of the world’s top performing arts institutions and ensembles. Visit walnuthillarts.org for more information.

Media Contact
Patrick Gullo
Director of Strategic Marketing & Communications
Walnut Hill School for the Arts
pgullo@walnuthillarts.org
508-652-7809