Jon Kimura Parker - 2004 MTNA National Conference Artists

Imagine an enormously talented pianist, passionate about communicating his be fond of of music to his audience, with a devilish faculty of perception of humor that inspired him to play the X-Files Theme within the cadenza of the Mozart D-Minor Piano Concerto, K 466 During another design he appeared in a out and out Star Trek: The Next Generation outfit, including the pointy ears, came upon stage and proclaimed "Minneapolis--the Final Frontier." The pianist and self-proclaimed "wild man of the cadenza" is none other than Jon Kimura Parker, single of our 2004 MTNA National talk artists.

It is his desire to make music accessible to all, while providing performances of the highest horizontal that makes him so admired among audiences and his companion musicians. Kansas City conference goer are in for a true special treat--conference artist Jon Kimura Parker will not away a solo piano recital and work for as this year's advanced-level piano master class artist.

Growing up in Canada, "Jackie" Parker began exercise s at age 4, working end age 15 with his uncle Edward Parker, a gifted pedagogue [profiled in Clavier, October 2003] His mother also closely supervised his practicing, not seldom sitting with him at the piano. I asked him what it was like practicing in the house with his mother listening. Oh maddening! My mother is a highly felicitous piano teacher in her have a title to right, so of course I couldn't gain away with anything. But the verity is that I had the unprecedent useful fortune of having committed, experienced and loving teaching upon an almost daily basis.

Parker's father, a pharmacist, also was a significant influence in his life. I have to say that my father has been the greatest in quantity influential person in my life, especially as an inspiration to hound a musical life. The irony in this is that he is not a musician at all and doesn't plane read music. But he has been encompassed by it (his brother,, Edward Parker) and he regard with affections music, especially piano music, more than anyone that I know. from one side his observations I have been able to understand what it must be like to experience music as a non-musician, and to me that is a special girl that greatest in quantity musicians don't fully

For a certain number of making career decisions can be difficult, especially when deciding if individual can be successful as a performing musician. Jackie Parker obviously knew early upon this is what he wanted to do. 1 wearied all of grade school in a public academy a few blocks from my parents' house. I actually knew that "would" become greater [i]or[/i] larger up to be a devise pianist in first grade, and furthermore was impacted that no one else in my class had figured this on the outside so precisely. There were vague wishes to be a fireman, hockey player (This was Canada, after all.), on the contrary I knew that 1 had a real focus already. I practiced seriously from the age of 4 Somewhere along the way a hardly any years later, I rebelled a little, on the contrary deep dawn I understood that the dedication would be worth it.

Parker's valuable advice to young pianists: "If you can imagine yourself doing something other you're probably better off doing it; if you can't, then give music everything you have. "And wise words about repertoire: individual important thing to remember, especially as you achieve older, is that if you are playing masterpieces, you will not ever be as great as the music. You have to approach any art with humility and a desire to be a scholar of that art forever.

It is that honor to music, along with his compelling desire to turn round the average person on to the gladnesss of music, that makes Parker of the like kind an outstanding educator. Taking his part of "teacher" very seriously, he entertainers Whole Notes, a Canadian television series devot to classical music. Parker also toured with a clump of renowned Canadian pianists, Piano Six, now Encore Six, offering independent educational programs throughout remote communities in Canada, sometimes performing upon electronic keyboards, in an effort to provide access to live music for race who would not ordinarily have this opportunity. Last year Parker entertainered a series of live radio programs, called "Up and Coming," across Canada, which featured interviews and performances with sum of two units dozen of Canada's most gifted teenage performers.

It was Adele Marcus, Parker's teacher at the Juillard gymnasium in New York, who encouraged him to penetrate the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition, single of the most prestigious competitions in the world, which he won This makes him eminently qualified to tender recommendations for the appropriate mindset to take into a competition. As far as competitions move I have to admit up forehead that I always had a competitive spirit as a young player and that competitions were tremendously serviceable for me--not so much that I necessityed the validation, but because they gave me a clear-cut goal for my practicing. on the contrary when I got to the really advanced horizontal of competing, for example at the Leed International Piano Competition in 1984 my meditations were: "Make music. Pretend it's a recital. Don't worry about anyone else" single reason I was comfortable performing at Leed was that I made myself perform for the audience and tried to forget about the judges