Jon Kimura Parker piano

One of the most sought-after performing pianists today, Jon Kimura Parker performed an unprecedented array of piano concertos in the 2010-2011 season, including Rachmaninoff No. 3, Brahms No. 2, Tchaikovsky No. 1, Barber, Gershwin, Beethoven No. 4, Beethoven “Emperor”, Grieg, and several by Mozart. A true Canadian ambassador of music, Mr. Parker has given command performances for Queen Elizabeth II, the United States Supreme Court, and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Japan. He is an Officer of The Order of Canada, his country's highest civilian honor.

Jon Kimura Parker has performed as guest soloist with major orchestras nationally and internationally, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, London Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie, Warsaw Philharmonic, and NHK Tokyo Orchestra. Conductors he has recently worked with include James DePreist, Jeffrey Kahane, Carlos Kalmar, Jahja Ling, Andrew Litton, Peter Oundjian, Larry Rachleff, Arild Remmereit and Pinchas Zukerman.

He performs as duo partner regularly with James Ehnes, Lynn Harrell and Cho-Liang Lin. An unusually versatile artist, Mr. Parker has also jammed with Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin and Doc Severinsen. As a member of the outreach project Piano Plus, Mr. Parker toured remote areas including the Canadian Arctic, performing classical music and rock 'n' roll on everything from upright pianos to electronic keyboards. In commemoration of his special performance in war-torn Sarajevo in 1995, he was a featured speaker alongside humanitarians Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina at the 50th Anniversary of AmeriCares.

An active media personality, Mr. Parker hosted the television series Whole Notes on Bravo! Canada, and CBC Radio Two's Up and Coming. His YouTube channel features the Concerto Chat videos, in which he discusses the piano concerto repertoire.

Last summer Mr. Parker gave a recital tour of Taiwan with Cho-Liang Lin, collaborated with Pinchas Zukerman in Ottawa, performed at Chamber Music Northwest, the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, and Music@Menlo, was a featured soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival, and performed at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, where he is Artistic Advisor.

This coming season Mr. Parker performs the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Bournemouth Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, and Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and also performs piano concerti of Brahms, Grieg and Barber. He performs Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Houston Symphony, and the Rachmaninoff-Paganini Rhapsody with the Nashville Symphony. His recital program includes his solo transcription to celebrate the centenary of Stravinsky’s Petrouchka .

A committed educator, Jon Kimura Parker is Professor of Piano at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He has lectured at The Juilliard School, The Steans Institute, New York University, and Yale University. Mr. Parker frequently brings music to public schools in informal concert presentations. His students have performed with major orchestras across the U.S.  Former student Jade Simmons recently brought the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition to the world as their webcasting host.

“Jackie” Parker studied with Edward Parker and Keiko Parker privately, Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, Marek Jablonski at the Banff Centre, and Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School. He won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition.

Mr. Parker has recorded for Telarc with Yoel Levi, Andre Previn and Peter Schickele. He was born, raised and educated in Vancouver. He lives in Houston with his wife, violinist Aloysia Friedmann and their daughter Sophie. For further information, please see  www.jonkimuraparker.com and www.oicmf.org.

Last updated August 2011

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Visit Jon Kimura Parker at http://www.jonkimuraparker.com

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