PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music has created a new Quartet-in-Residence Program to feature different chamber music ensembles on a yearly basis, beginning with the Parker String Quartet in the 2008–2009 academic year.

Noel Zahler, head of the School of Music, believes that this arrangement will be mutually beneficial to both performers and students. “Offering the residency to different quartets each year gives our students the opportunity to experience a diverse array of ensembles,” Zahler said. “By the time a student in the class of 2012 graduates, he or she will have had the tremendous experience of studying with, at minimum, four professional quartets.”

Winner of both the 2005 Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, the Parker String Quartet has attracted attention as a young, dynamic chamber music ensemble. Violinists Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim have collaborated with artists from every genre and have performed in major venues across the United States, Italy, France and Australia.

For a week during the fall and spring semesters, the quartet will work closely with Carnegie Mellon students, presenting master classes, coaching chamber music sessions and reading student composer compositions. The capstone of these engagements will be a recital performance by the quartet at the close of each week.

Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music educates outstanding, intellectually gifted musicians through excellence in performance, creativity, scholarship and pedagogy. The School of Music offers undergraduate degrees in music composition and instrumental, vocal and keyboard performance. Graduate degrees are offered in composition, conducting and performance, and music education. The school also offers a variety of highly acclaimed non-degree programs, such as the Performance Residency Program, the Artist Diploma Program, and the Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Piano Pedagogy, Advanced Flute Studies, Orff Schulwerk and Music Education certificate programs.