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Pacifica Quartet
The Pacifica Quartet returns as Don Michael Randel ensemble-in-residence at Chicago University
The award-winning Pacifica Quartet will return to Chicago University for a second appointment as the Don Michael Randel (DMR) Ensemble-in-Residence. The 2023-24 residency will celebrate ten years since the quartet was named the first-ever DMR Ensemble in 2013.
Pacifica Quartet will visit the university three times for weeklong residencies during the university's autumn, winter, and spring academic quarters. The ensemble will present three public concerts while in residence, along with participating in interdisciplinary panels and discussions, visiting music classes, leading workshops with Department of Music ensembles, and engaging with school and community music programs in the city.
The Pacifica Quartet. Photo © Lisa Mazzucco
The autumn residency will feature a lecture demonstration with the quartet of Sean Shepherd's String Quartet No 3 at the International House on Thursday 19 October 2023 at 5:30pm and a performance of works by Prokofiev, Beethoven and Shepherd with UChicago Presents on Friday 20 October 2023 at 7:30pm in Mandel Hall. The winter residency includes a performance of Stephen Paulus' Three Places of Enlightenment for String Quartet and Orchestra with the Chicago University Symphony Orchestra on Saturday 27 January 2024 at 8pm and a program of Gruenberg, Shostakovich and Dvořák with UChicago Presents on Sunday 28 January 2024 at 3pm.
With a career spanning nearly three decades, the Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often daring repertory choices. With its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound, the Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound. Having served as quartet-in-residence at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music for the past decade, the Quartet also leads the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School and was previously the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Randel residency was established with a gift from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation to honour its departing president and noted musicologist, Don Michael Randel, who served as the twelfth president of Chicago University and is an emeritus faculty member in the Department of Music. The funding supports an acclaimed musical ensemble for up to three years, providing a permanent home for world-class musicians to engage with the University and Hyde Park communities. The Pacifica Quartet, the resident ensemble in the Department of Music for seventeen years, was the first to hold the appointment as Don Michael Randel Ensemble-in-Residence beginning in 2013. Subsequent Ensembles in Residence have been Imani Winds (2016-2018), Sweet Honey In The Rock (2018-19), Plena Libre (2019-20), Quatuor Diotima (2021-22) and Amjad Ali Khan and Ensemble (2022-23).
Additional events and residency details will be announced later this season.
Further information: music.uchicago.edu
Posted 13 September 2023 by Keith Bramich
