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Parker String Quartet takes up residence at Rockport Schools

By Jonathan L'Ecuyer
Staff writer
Published: March 12, 2008

ROCKPORT — An internationally recognized group of award-winning musicians, the Parker String Quartet, will crisscross the planet this year, performing in prestigious venues from France to Australia to Korea and, for the fourth consecutive year, right in this seacoast village on the tip of Cape Ann.

Sponsored by Rockport Chamber Music Festival's Educational Outreach Committee, the quartet will be in the Rockport public schools today and will put an exclamation point on its visit tonight at 7 with a free concert at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport.

The quartet will begin its day meeting with elementary schoolchildren in the morning before performing for the middle and high school musicians in the band room later this afternoon. According to the schools' chamber music director, Nathan Cohen, the quartet will offer advice to the students on how to develop communication skills.

"It will help teach (the students) how to lead each other during a performance because there is no conductor with chamber music," Cohen said. "It's something that will really benefit all of these musicians."

This is the fourth residency by the Parker String Quartet in the Rockport schools.

"With over half of the students in Rockport schools involved in playing an instrument, a residency provides an excellent musical performance, inspiring educational presentations and the opportunity for students to interact with some of the finest musicians of our time," said the festival's educational coordinator, Stephanie Woolf.

Woolf, who volunteers many mornings to help Cohen with the school's strings program, said the festival aims to provide four residencies per year; this year there will be three.

"We defined our mission to introduce, instruct, interact and inspire," Woolf said. "By having younger musicians the students can relate to, it makes the (performers) real human beings, not just people up on stage. It really brings it to life for everybody involved."

Superintendent Rosemary DiTullio is thankful for the festival's educational outreach work. She said the quartet's visits help open students' eyes to the possibilities of establishing a career in music outside of Rockport.

"It's a wonderful program; whenever we can bring people and artists from any field and any creative arts into the schools to show kids what it's really like to do it for a living, it's good," DiTullio said yesterday. "Music appreciation is so important. In this day and age, it's not just taking tests, we really have to have people encouraged to use creative thinking."

Winners of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild Competition, members of the quartet, all in their mid-20s, are pursuing graduate degrees at the New England Conservatory. A New York Times review called the group "flawlessly balanced, perfectly tuned and sheathed in lustrous textures."

Members of the quartet are Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, on violin; Jessica Bodner, playing viola; and Kee-Hyun Kim, on the cello.

Their concert program will include the "Quartet in F Major, Opus 59, No. 1" by Ludwig van Beethoven, the first of the quartets commissioned by Count Razumovsky, and four fugues by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1821 when the composer was just 12 years old.

When Shalin Liu donated money for the construction of the festival's proposed new performance center, she also gave a "generous endowment" to be used solely for educational outreach. Woolf said between the $500,000 endowment and the festival's contributions, all available money is well spent.

"Sometimes, music programs are the first thing cut in budget cuts; but we use our dollars wisely," Woolf said. "We are able to bring a lot to the community with what we have."

Shawn Maguire, who will complete his first year as principal of Rockport Elementary School this June, said it quickly became obvious just how much the festival supports the schools.

"We have had several performances this year that our students have thoroughly enjoyed," Maguire said. "Synergy Brass Quintet was a huge success. The whole elementary school squeezed into the auditorium for their performance; it may have been crowded but our students were not disappointed."

Cohen said those who attend tonight's concert will also not walk away disappointed.

"It'll be a real top quality performance," he said. "I hope they keep doing these incredible concerts."

Jonathan L'Ecuyer can be reached at jlecuyer@gloucestertimes.com.

If you go

What: Parker String Quartet concert

Where: Unitarian Universalist Society of Rockport, 4 Cleaves St., Rockport

When: Tonight at 7

Admission: Free

Photos