Blodgett Chamber Music Series Presents: Parker Quartet

Program

Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution

Ethan Cavanac, Mixed Signals – (2025) *Blodgett Composition Award

Intermission

Johannes Brahms, String Sextet No. 2 in G major, Op. 36

      Dmitri Murrath, viola

      Blaise Déjardin, cello

This performance will also be livestreamed on the Department of Music Youtube Channel.

Free event parking will be available at the Broadway Garage.

Parker Quartet

Daniel Chong, violin

Ken Hamao, violin

Jessica Bodner, viola

Kee-Hyun Kim, cello

About the Parker Quartet

Internationally recognized for their “fearless, yet probingly beautiful” performances (The Strad), the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet has established itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation since its founding in 2002. Renowned for their fresh interpretations of canonical works and their passionate advocacy for contemporary music, the Quartet continues to chart a dynamic artistic path rooted in both tradition and innovation.

Praised by Gramophone for playing in which “virtuosity and emotion are one,” the Parker Quartet has performed for over two decades on many of the world’s leading stages. Recent seasons have included appearances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the University of Chicago, the 92nd Street Y, among others. The Quartet has also been featured at major festivals such as Tanglewood, Big Ears, Norfolk, Lake Champlain, Bridgehampton, Skaneateles, San Miguel de Allende, and the Banff Centre. 

Highlights of the upcoming 2026–27 season include appearances at DACAMERA of Houston and collaborations with Charles Neidich at The Phillips Collection and the Clark Library at UCLA, with whom the Quartet recently recorded their latest album of Brahms’s Quartet No. 3 and Clarinet Quintet (to be released in 2028). 

Bold programming and cross-disciplinary initiatives are hallmarks of the Quartet’s artistic identity. To mark their 20th anniversary in 2022–23, the ensemble launched The Beethoven Project, pairing the complete Beethoven quartet cycle with commissioned encores from five contemporary composers, community concerts in non-traditional venues across Boston, and Beethoven: Illuminated—an acclaimed 19-episode educational video series.

Building on this momentum, the Quartet turned to The Schubert Project for the 2025–26 season, delving into the composer’s late quartets and the monumental Cello Quintet alongside guest cellists Jay Campbell, Raman Ramakrishnan, and Paul Watkins. Mirroring their digital Beethoven initiative, the ensemble paired the season with Schubert: Illuminated, a four-part video series exploring his final quartets. Both Illuminated series can be found on the Quartet’s YouTube channel.

Deeply committed to the music of our time, the Quartet regularly commissions works by leading contemporary voices. Recent commissioned premieres include Suzanne Farrin’s SEA-DRIFT (2026) and Anthony Cheung’s the field remembers (2024) for quartet and mezzo-soprano, featuring the poetry of Guggenheim Fellow Victoria Chang and United States Poet Laureate Arthur Sze. Other notable commissions include works by Augusta Read Thomas, Felipe Lara, Jaehyuck Choi, Zosha Di Castri, Paul Wiancko, Wang Lu, Michi Wiancko, Sky Macklay, and Jeremy Gill. As part of Miller Theatre’s Mission: Commission podcast, they recorded new works by Kate Soper, Oscar Bettison, and Vijay Iyer—celebrating the creative process and contemporary collaboration.

Their artistic partnerships span a wide range of disciplines and genres. Past collaborators include pianists Menahem Pressler, Anne-Marie McDermott, Orion Weiss, Shai Wosner, Billy Childs, and Vijay Iyer; clarinetists and composers Jörg Widmann, Anthony McGill, and Charles Neidich; flutist Claire Chase; violist Kim Kashkashian; and mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron. The Quartet is also a proud supporter of Kashkashian’s Music for Food initiative, performing in concerts nationwide to benefit food banks and social service organizations.

Recording remains a central component of the Quartet’s artistic output. Their 2021 ECM release, featuring Dvořák’s Viola Quintet with Kim Kashkashian alongside works by György Kurtág, was described by The Strad as “nothing short of astonishing,” and by Gramophone as “defined by virtuosity so agile that it’s indistinguishable from the process of emotional expression.” Their 2019 recording of three Beethoven quartets (Monte Carlo’s Festival Printemps des Arts) earned accolades from Diapason for its “fearlessness, exceptional control, and attention to detail.” Additional recordings include Mendelssohn on Nimbus Records, Bartók on Zig-Zag Territoires, and the complete Ligeti Quartets on Naxos—a performance that garnered the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The Parker Quartet currently serves as Professors of the Practice and Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at the Department of Music at Harvard University. They also hold visiting residencies at the University of South Carolina and the Walnut Hill School for the Arts.

Founded and based in Boston, the Quartet’s numerous honors include winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition, the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, and Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award.

About the Guest Artists

Born in Brussels, Belgian-American viola player Dimitri Murrath made his mark on the international scene, performing as a recitalist and soloist at venues including the Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall (London), Kioi Hall (Tokyo), and Théâtre de la Ville (Paris).

A first prize winner at the Primrose International Viola Competition, Dimitri Murrath has won numerous awards, including top prizes at the Tokyo International Viola Competition and ARD Munich Competition. In 2012, he was named laureate of the Juventus Festival, an award recognizing young European soloists. He is a recipient of a 2014 Avery Fisher Career Grant through which he recorded and released his first solo album, featuring music by Vieuxtemps, Clarke, and Hindemith in 2017.

An avid chamber musician, Mr. Murrath has been the violist of the Esmé Quartet since 2023. Prior to that, he was a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society from 2013 to 2023. He has collaborated with Richard Goode, Gidon Kremer, Menahem Pressler, Mitsuko Uchida, and members of the Cleveland, Mendelssohn, and Guarneri Quartets. He has performed in festivals that include Verbier, Caramoor, Juventus, and Marlboro.

Dimitri Murrath began his musical education at the Yehudi Menuhin School, studying with Natalia Boyarsky, and completed his Bachelor of Music in London with David Takeno at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and graduated with an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory as a student of Kim Kashkashian.

After 9 years teaching viola at New England Conservatory, he joined the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as professor of viola and chair of chamber music. During this time, he founded the concert series Chamber Music Tuesdays, showcasing SFCM students playing alongside internationally recognized chamber musicians. Since the fall 2026, Dimitri Murrath returned to NEC as Associate Dean of Artistic Administration.

Dimitri Murrath participates in the Music for Food project, which raises awareness of the hunger problem faced by a large percentage of the population, and gives the opportunity to experience the powerful role music can play as a catalyst for change.

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Strasbourg-born cellist Blaise Déjardin was appointed principal cello of the Boston Symphony Orchestra by BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons in spring 2018, having joined the BSO’s cello section in 2008. He is the 14th principal cello in the history of the orchestra. In making the appointment, Nelsons praised Déjardin as “an absolute complete musician with an exquisite breadth of tone, beautiful musical phrasing, and inspired creativity and imagination, only matched by his supreme dedication to conveying the true spirit of the music.” 

Déjardin made his highly-acclaimed concerto debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons in 2022 in Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1. He returned as a soloist with the BSO in 2024 with the American premiere of The Dong with a Luminous Nose by Elena Langer under the direction of Sir Mark Elder. He has also performed as soloist with orchestra worldwide with ensembles like the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Kuopio Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Cape Ann Symphony, and Melrose Symphony Orchestra. Recent solo performances featured concertos by Dvořák, Brahms, and Shostakovich. 

A dedicated chamber musician, he spent two summers at Ravinia’s Steans Institute and is since 2018 a member of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. Previously, Déjardin was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester. He was also a founding member of A Far Cry and the Boston Cello Quartet. He has arranged numerous pieces for cello ensembles, earning six ASCAP Plus Awards and receiving commissions from Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and A Far Cry. In 2013 he launched Opus Cello, his online sheet music publishing company. 

Déjardin made his solo debut with orchestra at age 14 performing Haydn’s C major concerto at the Corum in Montpellier, France. Among his numerous awards and honors, he was awarded first prize at the Maurice Gendron International Cello Competition and was also the youngest prizewinner at the 6th Adam International Cello Competition in New Zealand. In 2007 he made his Paris recital debut at Le Petit Palais as a laureate of the program Déclic supporting emerging young soloists in France. 

In 2019 Déjardin released the album MOZART New Cello Duos with cellist Kee-Hyun Kim, featuring his own transcriptions. He also appears on both Boston Cello Quartet albums Pictures and The Latin Project. His first album as principal cello of the BSO, Adès Conducts Adès, was released by Deutsche Gramophone in 2020. 

Déjardin holds a first prize in cello with highest honors from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique of Paris, as well as a master of music degree and a graduate diploma from the New England Conservatory in Boston. His main teachers were Philippe Muller, Laurence Lesser, and Bernard Greenhouse. He serves on the cello faculty of the New England Conservatory and is regularly invited to give masterclasses in Europe, China, and North America. His instructional book Audition Day was published by Opus Cello in 2022. 

He performs on a cello by Georges Chanot with a bow by Georges Frédéric Schwartz, respectively made in Paris and Strasbourg in 1840. He also plays a 2024 cello made for him by Seattle-based violin maker Michael Doran and several bows commissioned from today’s most talented bow makers. 

_{Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan.}