Artists-in-Residence Embody UChicago Spirit

Pianist Clare Longendyke playing at the piano at the Ordway Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota

Chicago, IL

The Department of Music at the University of Chicago is home to some of the most rigorous, progressive and interdisciplinary music scholarship in the world, with musicology and composition faculty frequently included on course syllabi at schools like Juilliard, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. When it comes to performance, however, not everyone recognizes that Chicago is also home to a robust and expanding performance program, with faculty and students who are accomplished and innovative performers in their own right.

That is clearly exemplified by three new artists-in-residence appointmented in the Music Department in October 2019: pianist Clare Longendyke, violinist Tricia Park, and cellist Seth Parker Woods. All three are acclaimed performers with international careers, and each likewise embodies the interdisciplinary nature and inquisitive spirit of the University of Chicago.

For Longendyke, Park, and Woods, UChicago offers a unique creative environment where they can share their passions inside and outside of music with students. “The UChicago campus pulsates with an intellectual inquisitiveness, seriousness, and appreciation for the arts and humanities that is truly unique,” says violinist Park, who herself embodies the same multi-disciplinary curiosity that she sees in her students. Park began touring internationally when she was just thirteen; by the time she reached adulthood, after receiving degrees from the Juilliard School, she was ready to explore other creative avenues. In addition to her career as a professional violinist, the Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient is the producer and host of the podcast “Is it Recess Yet? Confessions of a Former Child Prodigy,” and in May of 2019, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Writing Program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Violin Artist-in-Residence Tricia Park

Pianist Clare Longendyke, who studied mathematics and French language and literature as well as piano while an undergraduate at Boston University, likewise relates to the multi-faceted natures of her students in the Chamber Music Program. “I think a well-rounded education and understanding of the world is the key to fostering human relationships and creating great art!” she says. In addition to her work at UChicago, Clare started and runs the Music in Bloom Festival, an annual celebration of new music performance, in Indianapolis, and she performs both in recitals and with orchestras across the United States. Her activity off-campus is certainly informed by her experience on. “It is empowering to be surrounded by equally passionate and hardworking artists and scholars… My number one priority is to foster [students’] lifelong love of music and the arts, and they respond with enthusiasm and pride.”

When he saw the opportunity to join a Department of Music as dynamic as the one at the University of Chicago, cellist Seth Park Woods, who is also Artist-in-Residence with the Seattle Symphony, jumped at the chance. “At a certain point in life,” he says “I really started to look at the world around me and [wonder] if there could be more… if my way of collaborating and teaching could be more.” Working with his students at the University of Chicago on a daily basis, he says, proves that it could.

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Cello Artist-in-Residence Seth Parker Woods

In addition to teaching, these three new artists-in-residence are bringing their substantial talents as performers to Music Department stages with recitals this winter and spring. Clare Longendyke performs with her duo partner, violist Rose Wollman, on Tuesday, February 25 at 7:30 pm in Fulton Recital Hall, and again on May 19 in the Logan Center Performance Penthouse. Seth Park Woods makes his University of Chicago performance debut Thursday, March 5 at 4:30 pm as part of the Tea Time Concert series, and Tricia Park performs for the first time on campus the following week, March 12 with Clare Longendyke.

There are also many opportunities to see and hear these musicians off campus as well. Woods will be premiering five new works for cello, interactive electronics, and film in the Seattle Symphony’s new concert venue, Octave 9, this February. Longendyke has upcoming performances with orchestras of works by Beethoven, Ravel, and Welsh composer Grace Williams, and she will release her first-ever solo CD in 2021. Park can be heard on her podcast, “Is it Recess Yet? Confessions of a Former Child Prodigy,” and she will be returning to the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in 2020 to teach creative writing.

Upcoming UChicago Performances