Artistic Advisor | Jon Kimura Parker

Mr. Parker is one of the world’s leading classical pianists, playing as many as 100 concerts annually everywhere from New York’s Carnegie Hall to London, Tokyo, Frankfurt, and Tasmania. He has given two command performances for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, recorded as guest soloist with Andre Previn, jammed in an impromptu concert with Doc Severinsen and the original Tonight Show Orchestra, and was a celebrity guest on the children’s television program Under the Umbrella Tree on the Disney Channel. Gold Medal winner at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition, Jon Kimura Parker received the the most prestigious arts award in Canada in November 1996, the Governor General’s Arts Award, and he has also been awarded his country’s highest honor for lifetime achievement, the Order of Canada. Mr. Parker joined the faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston in 2000. He studied in his native Vancouver, BC, with Edward Parker, Keiko Parker, and Lee Kum-Sing, and with Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School.