The Hope College Great Performance Series will feature the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet on Friday, Feb. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.
The string ensemble has won praise across the world with The New York Times calling the quartet “something extraordinary,” the Denver Post saying that the group is “a formidable force,” and the Washington Post praising the musicians’ “exceptional virtuosity [and] imaginative interpretation.”
The performance at Hope College will feature Felix Mendelssohn’s “Quartet in E minor, Op.44, No. 2” and Ludwig van Beethoven’s “String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.130 with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133.”
In demand worldwide, the quartet has appeared at the world’s most important venues since its founding in 2002, and has toured in Europe and North America. In the U.S., the quartet has appeared at the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in the Annapolis Concerts at St. John’s College and at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. In addition, the ensemble has performed in a variety of music festivals such as the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine, the Strings Music Festival in Colorado and the Garth Newell Music Center in Virginia.
The Parker Quartet has distinguished itself with acclaimed recordings for Nimbus, Zig-Zag Territoires, Innova Records and Naxos. The quartet’s Naxos recording of György Ligeti’s complete works for string quartet won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance (the last string quartet to win the category).
Founded and currently based in Boston, Massachusetts, the Parker Quartet has received numerous honors, including winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at France’s Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.
Individual tickets are $22 for regular admission, $16 for senior citizens and Hope faculty and staff, and $6 for children 18 and under. Tickets are available online and at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at 616-395-7890. More information about the season may be obtained online. The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.