BERNSTEIN AND SHOSTAKOVICH
Zhong and Pinchas Zukerman . Parker has performed for Queen Elizabeth II , the U . S . 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 .
He performs as duo partner regularly with James Ehnes , Aloysia Friedmann , Lynn Harrell , Jamie Parker , Orli Shaham , and Cho-Liang Lin , with whom he has given world premieres of sonatas by Paul Schoenfield , John Harbison and Steven Stucky . He performs regularly with the Miró Quartet , and is a founding member of the Montrose Trio with violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith . The Washington Post ’ s review proclaimed the Trio “ poised to become one of the top piano trios in the world .”
As a member of the outreach project Piano Plus , Parker toured remote areas , including the Canadian Arctic , performing classical music and rock ‘ n ’ roll on everything from upright pianos to electronic keyboards . He was a featured speaker alongside humanitarians Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina at the 50 th Anniversary of the relief organization AmeriCares .
An unusually versatile artist , Parker has jammed with Audra McDonald , Bobby McFerrin and Doc Severinsen . Parker also debuted his new project Off The Score in a quintet with legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland , featuring both original compositions and fresh takes on music of Ravel , Prokofiev and Stravinsky .
Parker hosted the television series Whole Notes on Bravo ! and CBC Radio ’ s Up and Coming . His YouTube channel showcases the Concerto Chat video series , with illuminating discussions of the piano concerto repertoire .
A committed educator , Parker is professor of piano at The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University . His students have won international piano competitions , performed with major orchestras across the U . S ., and given recitals in Amsterdam , Beijing , New York and Moscow . He has lectured at The Juilliard School , The Colburn School , The Steans Institute , New York University and Yale University . Parker is also artistic advisor of the Orcas
Island Chamber Music Festival , where he has given world premieres of new works by Peter Schickele and Jake Heggie .
Parker has recorded the music of Tchaikovsky , Prokofiev , Chopin and P . D . Q . Bach for Telarc ; Mozart for CBC ; and Stravinsky , Mozart , Schubert , Schumann , Di Liberto and Hirtz under his own label . His new CD Fantasy features the fantasies of Schubert and Schumann , as well as the sensational Wizard of Oz Fantasy by William Hirtz , receiving praise from Classical Candor : “ The reading is riveting . Parker scores with another favorite recording of the year .”
Parker studied with Edward Parker and Keiko Parker privately , Lee Kum- Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia , Robin Wood at the Victoria Conservatory , 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 . He lives in Houston with his wife , violinist Aloysia Friedmann and their daughter Sophie .
Jon Kimura Parker last appeared with the Baltimore Symphony in March 2000 , performing Rachmaninoff ' s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini , Sergiu Comissiona , conductor .
About the Concert
SLAVA ! A POLITICAL OVERTURE
Leonard Bernstein
Born in Lawrence , MA , August 25 , 1918 ; died in New York City , NY , October 14 , 1990
The great Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich ( 1927 – 2007 ) was a close friend and inspiration to both of the composers on this program , Leonard Bernstein and Dmitri Shostakovich . Bighearted in both his personality and his playing , he was known to all his friends as “ Slava ,” which , appropriately enough , means “ glory ” in Russian .
When Rostropovich assumed the music directorship of the National Symphony Orchestra in 1977 , he asked Bernstein to write some music for him to perform with his new orchestra . In addition to two more serious pieces , Songfest and Three Meditations from MASS , Bernstein responded with the sassy , boisterously American Slava ! A Political Overture , a kind of tongue-in-cheek welcome to the political world of Washington , D . C . Its themes were taken from his recent , unfortunately unsuccessful musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue , mixed with a pre-recorded tape of cliché electioneering slogans . In its last moments , the trombones mix this with a quotation from the grand “ Slava ” Chorus from Mussorgsky ’ s Boris Godunov , a direct salute to Rostropovich and his Russian heritage .
Instrumentation : Two flutes , piccolo , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , E-flat clarinet , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon , soprano saxophone , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , timpani , percussion , piano and strings .
SYMPHONY NO . 2 , “ THE AGE OF ANXIETY ”
Leonard Bernstein
None of the three works Leonard Bernstein labeled as symphonies in any way resembles a conventional orchestral symphony . Symphony No . 1 , “ Jeremiah ,” includes a singer and chorus and is built around Old Testament texts . Symphony No . 3 , “ Kaddish ,” combines choruses , a vocal soloist and a spoken text to express what is essentially Bernstein ’ s very personal argument with God . And inspired by W . H . Auden ’ s long poem of the same name , Symphony No . 2 , “ The Age of Anxiety ,” is a highly dramatic work that resembles both a tone poem and a piano concerto . As the composer himself candidly admitted : “ If the charge of ‘ theatricality ’ in a symphonic work is a valid one , I am willing to plead guilty . I have a deep suspicion that every work I write , for whatever medium , is really theatre music in some way .”
Though not a word is spoken or sung in the Second Symphony , it is as much tied to a literary text as are “ Jeremiah ” and “ Kaddish .” Bernstein was an insatiable
30 OVERTURE / BSOmusic . org