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Chamber Music Day and High School String Quartet Competition

Now in its 10th year, the USC Chamber Day and Competition with the Parker Quartet is an exceptional opportunity for advanced high school string quartets to work with the world-renowned Parker Quartet. We will also open the enrollment to other string chamber groups such as string quintets, piano trios and piano quintets. 

The next Chamber Day will be held Saturday, April 6, 2024.

After the Parker Quartet did a brilliant full Beethoven cycle of six concerts in various venues throughout Columbia in the spring of 2023 that put Chamber Day on hiatus, USC welcomes back talented high school string players to our Recital Hall for our 10th Annual Chamber Day and Competition on April 6, 2024. The Parker Quartet and USC string faculty have been so impressed with the exceptionally high artistic level of the groups that have participated in past years, and we look forward to hearing many more for this year’s event. All coachings and master classes will take place in the School of Music, and the final evening performance and the awarding of prizes will be live-streamed to the public. 

The coaches’ words of experience, their critique, as well as words of encouragement not only helped our quartet to challenge ourselves and experiment with different musical concepts during the workshop/competition, but they also instilled within us a lasting goal of trying to understand the music on a deeper level.

– a previous attendee

Competition Prizes

First Prize: $500
Second Prize: $300
Third Prize: $150

Repertoire

Repertoire for the day will include one substantial movement of a major work from the quartet literature. In order to work on the highest artistic level, advance preparation is expected of each quartet prior to the event.

Competition Judges

All members of the Parker Quartet and several School of Music faculty members serve as judges for the competition. There will also be an "audience favorite" prize, as voted by members of the audience.

The Coaches

The Parker Quartet

  • Daniel Chong, violin
  • Ken Hamao, violin
  • Jessica Bodnar, viola
  • Kee-Hyun Kim, cello

USC String Faculty

  • William Terwilliger, violin
  • Ari Streisfeld, violin
  • Daniel Sweaney, viola
  • Claire Bryant, cello

Enrollment

Enrollment is limited to 8 string quartets. All quartets are eligible to compete in the competition, but are not required to.

Tuition

$160 per quartet.

Application procedure

1.    All groups must be pre-formed and should send a YouTube or other cloud link of one movement of a major work of the string quartet repertoire.
2.    Application fee of $25 (non-refundable)
3.    Application deadline: March 15, 2024
4.   Register and pay fee online

Questions, please contact:
Dr. William Terwilliger
University of South Carolina School of Music
813 Assembly St., 
Columbia, SC 29208
803-361-0461
wterwilliger@mozart.sc.edu

 

 

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