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A string quartet from the University of Utah is going to New York next week — but it's not a vacation.
The University of Utah School of Music Graduate String Quartet will be taking part in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, a prestigious and intensive weeklong workshop that runs from May 20 to May 24.
"This quartet is a symbiosis of four highly talented and accomplished string students, who has hit a very successful combination of ambition and ability," Hasse Borup, the group's director and an associate professor at the U., said in a statement. "I am very proud of their achievements and desire to perform some of the greatest repertoire written at the highest level."
The quartet consists of: Melissa Combe, violin; Jakob Hofer, violin; Sunny Johnson, viola; and Lauren Posey, cello.
During the seminar, the four will receive coaching and mentoring from members of the Juilliard String Quartet. "It's like working with music celebrities," Combe said in a statement. "We'll come back a much better group."
The U. quartet will also have a rehearsal studio, and perform at a public concert at Juilliard.
When the quartet returns home, they will prepare for the School of Music Chamber Music Workshop, set for June 16-20. The four will be working with violinist Philip Setzer of the Emerson Quartet, and Setzer will perform June 18 at Libby Gardner Concert Hall.