They also co-teach Music189 every semester. The performance-based class allows students the opportunity to work in a chamber music group with coaching from one or more of the quartet, as well as from world-class pianist Katherine Chi. The course is designed to give students studio class experience in front of their peers and the quartet. Bodner emphasizes the student-to-student aspect, where “incredible liberal-arts thinkers” give each other suggestions on performances and music-making.

Bodner describes the quartet’s dynamics as “extremely equal,” and necessarily so: “a dance of giving and taking, in and out of music-making.” Chamber music gives performers nowhere to hide, and forces them constantly to think about relationships with fellow performers. Take the two Shostakovich string quartets they will perform Friday as an example. This will be the third time the group is playing the works, and Bodner said the first two performances were totally different experiences. The first time the quartet played these Shotakovich pieces, they were in their early 20s; the second, in their late 20s; today, even after 18 years together, the act of playing together “always changes,” she said.

Here in Cambridge, just down the river from where they began all those years ago, they are finding themselves at home, and not just by settling into their tenure at Harvard. Bodner said that a fair amount of the audience on Friday night, and at many of the Blodgett performances this season, will have been coming to these concerts for decades. It took the listeners a couple of performances to warm up to the Parker Quartet, but after five years the difference is palpable, she said.

“Both parties are feeling more comfortable. It’s nice to feel close to the community.”

There’s a lot to look forward to this season for both the quartet and their audience. The annual Blodgett Composition Competition is approaching, and the winner’s piece will be performed by the quartet. Bodner also mentioned potential future collaborations with faculty at Harvard, including flute and jazz piano crossovers that are still in the works.

The group’s opening performance this semester will feature the two entrancing Shostakovich string quartets bookending a performance of a “harmonically crazy” Dvorak work that “doesn’t hold anything back.” And this year, Bodner said, she “is more excited now about the quartet than ever before.”

The Parker Quartet performs Friday at 8 p.m. at Paine Hall. Click here for more details.

Ethan Whang is a junior at Harvard College studying comparative literature.