The Department of Music is pleased to announce that the multiple Grammy® Award-winning Pacifica Quartet will return to the University of Chicago for a second appointment as the Don Michael Randel (DMR) Ensemble-in-Residence. The 2023–24 residency celebrates ten years since the quartet was named the first-ever DMR Ensemble in 2013.
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.
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 autumn residency will feature a Lecture Demonstration of Sean Shepherd’s String Quartet No. 3 at the International House on Thursday, October 19th at 5:30 p.m. and a performance of works by Prokofiev, Beethoven, and Shepherd with UChicago Presents on Friday, October 20th at 7:30 p.m. in Mandel Hall.
The winter residency includes a performance of Stephen Paulus’s Three Places of Enlightenment for String Quartet and Orchestra with the University of Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, January 27th, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. and a program of Gruenberg, Shostakovich, and Dvořák with UChicago Presents on Sunday, January 28th, 2024 at 3:00 p.m.