Parker Quartet to make Slee/Beethoven cycle debut

The Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet will make its first appearance next month in UB’s annual Slee/Beethoven String Quartet Cycle, performing the first three concerts of this season’s cycle — the 58th year the Department of Music has presented the complete string quartets of Beethoven.

The concerts will take place at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, and at 3 p.m. on Feb. 16 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The Parker Quartet also will conduct a master class from 11 a.m. to 1p.m. Feb. 15 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus. The class is free and open to the public.

Advance tickets for the concerts are $12 for the general public; $9 for UB faculty, staff, alumni and senior citizens; and $5 for students.  At the door, tickets are $20, $15 and $8. Tickets can be obtained by calling the Slee Hall box office at (716) 645-2921, in person at the Center for the Arts box office, or online at tickets.com.

The UB Alumni Association will host a pre-concert reception before the opening concert on Feb. 14. Advance registration is required; space is limited. Call 645-2921 to make reception reservations. 

Formed in 2002, the Parker Quartet has quickly distinguished itself as one of the pre-eminent ensembles of its generation, with The New York Times hailing the quartet as “something extraordinary” and the Boston Globe praising the group’s “pinpoint precision and spectacular sense of urgency.”

The quartet — featuring Daniel Chong and Ying Xue, violins; Jessica Bodner, viola; and Kee-Hyun Kim, cello — began touring on the international circuit after winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. Chamber Music America awarded the quartet the prestigious biennial Cleveland Quartet Award for the 2009-11 seasons.

Beginning in fall 2014, quartet members will join the faculty of Harvard University’s Department of Music as Blodgett Artists-in-Residence.