Sheet Music Live

JON KIMURA PARKER

Pianist

Since winning Great Britain's Leeds International Piano Competition in 1984, Jon Kimura Parker has become one of the most sought-after artists in his native Canada, as well as throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East. Whether performing as recitalist, soloist with orchestra or chamber musician, he has won unanimous praise for his brilliant technique, exquisite tone and thoughtful musicality.

Mr. Parker's career has already encompassed performances with many of the world's leading conductors and orchestras, among them Andre Previn and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Leonard Slatkin and the San Francisco Symphony, Christoph von Dohnanyi and the Cleveland Orchestra, Klaus Tennstedt and the London Symphony Orchestra, Gunther Herbig and the RSO Berlin, Pinchas Zukerman and the Dallas Symphony, Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony, and Christopher Hogwood and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. His recital and chamber music appearances have taken him to such festivals as Aldeburgh, Bergen, Edinburgh, Tivoli, Ravinia, Blossom, Mostly Mozart and the Minnesota Sommerfest, and have included performances on the most prestigious series at London's South Bank, Chicago's Orchestra Hall, New York's Avery Fisher Hall and Washington's Kennedy Center. He has traveled regularly to the Far East, both at the invitation of such ensembles as the NHK Symphony and the Hong Kong Philharmonic and as the soloist on an extensive Pacific Rim tour by the Toronto Symphony under Gunther Herbig. He has also toured as the featured soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in Europe and with the Halle Orchestra in the United States.

Among the highlights of Mr. Parker's 1994-95 season have been a concert at Carnegie Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, performing the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1, a New York recital at The Frick Collection and a debut with the Houston Symphony. He also makes return appearances with many other North American orchestras, including those of Baltimore, Calgary, Detroit, Edmonton and Vancouver. In Europe, his schedule includes engagements with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at London's Barbican Centre, the Bergen Philharmonic and an appearance at the Bath Festival with violinist Joshua Bell.

Mr. Parker has made two highly praised recordings for Telarc. His debut on that label, with the Royal Philharmonic under Andre Previn's direction, pairs Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in b-flat minor and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major. He subsequently released a Chopin recital featuring the Sonata No. 2 in b-flat minor, Op. 35. He has just completed a third project for Telarc, joining Peter Schickele for the first recording of the Concerto for Two Pianos vs. Orchestra by the fabled composer P.D.Q. Bach.

The recipient of many international awards, Mr. Parker has been honored repeatedly in his native Canada, where in 1985 the Canadian Music Council named him "Performer of the Year." In 1991 he was invited by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney to give a televised solo recital to officially open the new Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.

A well-known personality in Canada, he has hosted radio and television programs for the CBC. He was recently the subject of a hour long documentary on "Adrienne Clarkson Presents" and has appeared on the children's program "Under the Umbrella Tree." An enthusiastic advocate of new music, he has commissioned several works for piano by Canadian composers and has written a major recital work himself. He is also a founding member of Piano Six, a group of internationally renowned Canadian pianists who are engaged in bringing music to smaller communities across Canada.

Born in Vancouver, Jon Kimura Parker appeared with the Vancouver Youth Orchestra at the age of five. He began his training with his uncle, Edward Parker, and also studied with Robin Wood at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and with Marek Jablonski at the Banff Centre for the Arts. After four years of advanced study with Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and at the University of British Columbia he was admitted to The Juilliard School on full scholarship as a student of the renowned piano pedagogue Adele Marcus.

Mr. Parker has edited some well known Chopin and Beethoven selections, which can be found in Maestronet's piano sheet music in the advanced section

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