Jon Kimura Parker and Hurricane Harvey
Posted on CBC News August 28, 2017
‘I’m hopeful’: Vancouver pianist weathering Hurricane Harvey
‘This couldn’t be more different from the dry summer we had here in Vancouver,’ says Jon Kimura Parker
A pianist from Vancouver who now lives in Houston says his home — and piano — have so far survived the pummelling winds and catastrophic floods of Hurricane Harvey.
But Jon Kimura Parker says he and his wife are still stranded in their house, as the flooding has wound through their street and pooled in their backyard.
“I’m hopeful,” Kimura Parker told Early Edition guest host Stephen Quinn.
“We’ve survived the last two days and the water hasn’t reached our house … but it just keeps happening,” he said.
2017 Festival Artists
Aloysia Friedmann, violin, viola
Jon Kimura Parker, piano, composer
Steve Alboucq, trumpet
Oliver Aldort, cello
Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet
Benjamin Beilman, violin
Adria Benjamin, viola
Rachel Buchman, teaching artist
Andrés Cárdenes, violin
Martin Chalifour, violin
Chee-Yun, violin
Michael Collins, clarinet
Roshanne Etezady, composer
Gunnar Folsom, percussion
David Harding, viola
Jake Heggie, composer
Desmond Hoebig, cello
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Karl Kawahara, violin
Alecia Lawyer, oboe
Timothy McAllister, saxophone
Lorna McGhee, flute
Monique Mead, violin
Miró Quartet
Off The Score
Anita Orne, saw
Alexandra Preucil, violin
William Preucil, violin
Geoffrey Shilling, fibre artist
Andrew Staupe, piano
Adam Stern, conductor
Stephen Swanson, bass
Bion Tsang, cello
Anne Martindale Williams, cello
Sandy Yamamoto, violin
Monique Mead is Musician in Residence May 15-19, 2017
Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival brings Carnegie Mellon University music professor Monique Mead to Orcas Island as Musician-in-Residence May 15th through 19th. She will work with string players of all ages in the public school music program and at an Advanced Master Class for community members.
Monique Mead and her graduate assistant, Abbey Roemer, have been virtual instructors in the Orcas Island public school music classes this winter and spring, coaching Pamela Wright’s strings classes every month via Skype. Ms. Mead has enjoyed the distance-learning process, and says, “I love connecting with the students through Skype. It allows us to collaborate over an entire semester and builds excitement for the Musician-in-Residence week. The most frustrating thing is that I can’t reach out and lift those sagging elbows, but just you wait!”
Mrs. Wright is pleased with the progress her students have made with this novel mode of learning and remarked, “The Skype sessions that we have had so far with Monique and Abbey have been very instructive! We have been helped to reevaluate our bowing, which changed the emotion of one of our pieces.”
The week of intensive instruction culminates in the school music program’s Spring Concert, “Waltzing Through the Ages,” on May 18th at 7:00 p.m. in the High School gym. The students will play waltzes and courtly dances along with other dance forms. Many familiar tunes will include selections from “The Sound of Music” and waltzes for dukes, skaters, sailors, and even a river or two. Monique and Abbey will add to the evening’s entertainment, performing “Navarra,” a collection of flashy Spanish dances by Pablo de Sarasate, accompanied by Monique’s 12-year-old son Tino.
Community musicians have an opportunity to work with Monique Mead at an Advanced Strings Masterclass on Tuesday, May 16th, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. in the high school band room. The class is for advanced string players and string ensembles who would like coaching on pieces they are working on. Members of the community are also invited to come and observe the masterclass. This is a great opportunity to watch and learn from a very engaging master instructor. For more information about the masterclass and to sign up, contact Laura Gibbons at the Orcas Island Chamber Music office, 360-376-6636 or laura@oicmf.org.
This week of music instruction and performance is presented by Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival with the generous support of Rick Gould and Mimi and Slim Sommerville. OICMF has offered its Musician-in-Residence program to Orcas Island students and community members for over ten years, bringing musicians and music educators into the community to teach, coach, and inspire musicians of all ages.
2017 Festival Concerts
Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann, violin/viola, and Artistic Advisor Jon Kimura Parker, piano, welcome several Festival alumni and exciting new performers to this year’s 20th Festival Season, August 5-20. Highlights will be our quinquennial Concert on the Village Green and a newly-commissioned work by Jake Heggie for saw and string Quartet.
The days of the 2017 Festival concerts are slightly different from our usual pattern; our artists have very busy performance itineraries and we decided to vary our calendar just a bit so we can have exactly the right musicians to perform this 20th Season.
(Please note: all programs and artists are subject to change.)
Founding festival artist William Preucil returns to join his colleagues in the glorious Mendelssohn Octet, a work of profound genius written when the composer was only 16! Preucil also joins Artistic Advisor Jon Kimura Parker in the festival’s first ever performance of Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Orchestra. Expect musical fireworks!
Mendelssohn – Double Concerto for violin, piano and strings in D minor
A Preucil, W Preucil, Parker, Kawahara, Yamamoto, Friedmann, Benjamin, Tsang, Martindale Williams, Hoebig, Swanson
Mendelssohn – Song Without Words for cello and piano, Op. 109
Tsang, Parker
Mendelssohn – Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20
A Preucil, W Preucil, Kawahara, Yamamoto, Friedmann, Benjamin, Martindale Williams, Hoebig
Adria Benjamin, Aloysia Friedmann, Desmond Hoebig, Karl Kawahara, Jon Kimura Parker, Alexandra Preucil, William Preucil, Stephen Swanson, Bion Tsang, Anne Martindale Williams, Sandy Yamamoto
Often called the most beloved work in the entire chamber music repertoire, Schubert’s Trout Quintet beguiles the listener with beautiful melodies and old world elegance. Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann is joined in the Schubert by founding festival artist Desmond Hoebig, Jon Kimura Parker, Andrés Cárdenes, and Stephen Swanson. This program also features the return of flutist Lorna McGhee. Cellist Bion Tsang and pianist Andrew Staupe will captivate all in the passionate Cello Sonata of Rachmaninoff.
J. K. Parker – Pan Dreams for flute and piano (1989)
McGhee, Parker
Bruch – Three Pieces for saxophone, viola and piano, Op. 83
Friedmann, McAllister, Parker
Rachmaninoff – Cello Sonata in G minor, Op. 19
Tsang, Staupe
Schubert – Trout Quintet in A Major, D. 667
Cárdenes, Friedmann, Hoebig, Swanson, Parker
Andrés Cárdenes, Aloysia Friedmann, Desmond Hoebig, Timothy McAllister, Lorna McGhee,
Jon Kimura Parker, Andrew Staupe, Stephen Swanson, Bion Tsang
Four centuries of music are represented in this potpourri of musical expression. Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Timothy McAllister returns by popular demand, and violinists Andrés Cárdenes, Martin Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Monique Mead, and Sandy Yamamoto will thrill with everything from the purity of Bach to the impressionism of Debussy to Mike Garson’s jazzy take on Paganini. Can there ever be too much “sax and violins”?
Handel / Halvorsen – Passacaglia for violin and viola
Chee-Yun, Harding
Etezady – Recurring Dreams for saxophone and piano trio (2017) West Coast Premiere
McAllister, Yamamoto, Martindale Williams, Staupe
Schumann – Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales) for clarinet, viola and piano, Op. 132
Collins, Friedmann, Parker
Gershwin – Scenes from Porgy and Bess for saxophone and string quartet
McAllister, Cárdenes, Mead, Harding, Hoebig, Swanson
J.C. Bach – Quintet in F Major for oboe, violin, viola, cello and piano, Op. 22 no. 2
Lawyer, Yamamoto, Friedmann, Martindale Williams, Parker
Debussy – Syrinx for solo flute
McGhee
Debussy – Violin Sonata in G minor (1917)
Chalifour, Staupe
Mike Garson – Jazz Variations on a Theme of Paganini
Cárdenes, Parker, Chee-Yun, Mead, Friedmann, Martindale Williams, Swanson, Lawyer, McGhee, Collins, McAllister, Alboucq, Folsom
Steve Alboucq, Andrés Cárdenes, Martin Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Michael Collins, Gunnar Folsom, Aloysia Friedmann, David Harding, Desmond Hoebig, Alecia Lawyer, Timothy McAllister, Lorna McGhee, Monique Mead, Jon Kimura Parker, Andrew Staupe, Stephen Swanson, Anne Martindale Williams, Sandy Yamamoto
The Robert Henigson Concert on the Village Green is the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s musical gift to the island! Part 1 contrasts the brilliance of Vivaldi’s concerto writing, featuring festival favorite Anne Martindale Williams and Orcas Island’s own Oliver Aldort, and Gershwin’s unique take on the piano concerto with Jon Kimura Parker as soloist in Rhapsody in Blue. In Part 2, Jackie Parker is joined by iconic Police drummer Stewart Copeland and three brilliant colleagues in Off The Score, a unique take on everything from classical and blues to jazz and rock!
Vivaldi – Concerto in B minor for four violins and string orchestra, Op. 3, No. 10, RV 580
Beilman, Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Cárdenes, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Orchestra
Vivaldi – Concerto for Two Cellos in G minor, RV 531
Martindale Williams, Aldort, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Orchestra
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Parker, Stern, Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Jazz Band
Off The Score with Stewart Copeland and Jon Kimura Parker
Copeland, Parker, Kwon, Martinez, Miller
Oliver Aldort, Benjamin Beilman, Andrés Cárdenes, Martin Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Aloysia Friedmann, Anne Martindale Williams, Miró Quartet, Jon Kimura Parker, OICMF Jazz Band and Orchestra, Adam Stern, Off The Score
Now OICMF’s Quartet-in-Residence, the Miró Quartet is joined by two illustrious colleagues, clarinetist Michael Collins and cellist Desmond Hoebig, in two stunning masterworks from the Romantic era, the Brahms Clarinet Quintet and the Schubert Cello Quintet. Each of these works is filled with endless beauty and a lifetime of experience.
Brahms – Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Collins, Miró Quartet
Schubert – Cello Quintet in C Major, D. 956
Hoebig, Miró Quartet
Michael Collins, Desmond Hoebig, Miró Quartet
How often does the Executive Director of a festival have a chance to perform onstage? And how often is that work commissioned by one of the world’s leading composers? Anita Orne joins the Miró Quartet in Earthrise for saw and string quartet, written by Jake Heggie in honor of William Anders in reflection of his iconic photograph taken from Apollo 8, framed by a stunning textile piece by fibre artist Geoffrey Shilling. Also in a festival first, new guest violinist Benjamin Beilman joins Jon Kimura Parker in the stunning Schubert Fantasie. The festival concludes in grand fashion with Tchaikovsky’s triumphant Souvenir of Florence!
Brahms – Hungarian Dance #6 for piano four-hands
Kahane, Parker
Bartók – Contrasts for violin, clarinet and piano
Beilman, Franch-Ballester, Kahane
Schubert – Fantasie for violin and piano in C Major, D. 934
Beilman, Parker
Jake Heggie – Earthrise for saw and string quartet (2017) World Premiere (in honor of William Anders)
Orne, Miró Quartet
Tchaikovsky – Souvenir of Florence for string sextet in D minor, Op. 70
Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Friedmann, Harding, Hoebig, Aldort
Oliver Aldort, Benjamin Beilman, Martin Chalifour, Chee-Yun, Jose Franch-Ballester, Aloysia Friedmann, David Harding, Desmond Hoebig, Jeffrey Kahane, Miró Quartet, Anita Orne, Jon Kimura Parker, Geoffrey Shilling
This program of delightful musical stories includes the children’s book Owl and the Moon, featuring Rachel Buchman as narrator. She also leads children dancing to Schumann’s beautiful Kinderszenen (Scenes from Childhood) performed by pianist Jeffrey Kahane. Other artists participating are clarinetist Michael Collins, violinist Martin Chalifour, and cellist Oliver Aldort.
Owl and the Moon by Arnold Lobel
Schumann – Kinderszenen
Rachel Buchman, narrator
Jeffrey Kahane, piano
Martin Chalifour, violin
Michael Collins, clarinet
Oliver Aldort, cello
Wednesday, August 9 Svend Rønning
Friday, August 11 Jonathan Pasternack
Monday, August 14 Jeffrey Kahane (concert is on Tuesday, Aug. 15)
Saturday, August 19 Melinda Bargreen
Know the Score Lecture at 10:30 am with Melinda Bargreen
Miho & Diego Duo Inter-Island Spring Concerts and Workshops
Concerts and Workshops on Orcas, Lopez, and Shaw Islands
The exciting Miho & Diego Duo is coming to the San Juan Islands March 28th through April 1st as part of Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s Musicians-in-Residence program. In addition to their work in the schools on Lopez, Shaw, and Orcas, Miho and Diego will bring free family concerts to all three islands and free World rhythm workshops to the Orcas and Lopez communities, thanks in part to a generous grant from the Washington State Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Miho & Diego Duo has been boldly blending Latin and Japanese musical traditions since 2006, encouraging cultural understanding through music. Miho Takekawa and Diego Coy formed their duo after years of admiring each other’s work and discovering that their sounds could be combined to make something genuinely new and unique. Miho graduated from Kunitachi School of Music in her native Japan before earning her Master’s and Doctorate in percussion performance from the University of Washington School of Music. She now teaches at Pacific Lutheran University, where she heads the percussion studio and directs the school’s percussion and steel pan ensembles. Diego was born in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, and is former musical director of “Fundacion Viva La Musica” and “Fundacion Funmusica.” He is currently a master of exploring the musical traditions of his own native culture by playing Andean flute, panpipes, and many other traditional instruments. Together, this talented duo introduces their distinctive, warm native music and encourages the audience to join in the fun, clapping rhythms and singing in both Japanese and Spanish. Miho and Diego understand the importance of cultural awareness and believe music is a key component.
Miho and Diego begin their residency on Orcas Island Tuesday, March 28th. They will work with Orcas Island High School and Middle School bands and at Salmonberry, Montessori, Kaleidoscope, and Children’s House preschools.
Tuesday evening, all who have an interest in percussion are invited to a free World Rhythm Workshop at the Orcas Island Odd Fellows Hall from 6:00-7:00pm. All skill levels are welcome at this workshop.
On Wednesday, March 29th, it’s Lopez Island’s turn to play at the World Rhythm Workshop, from 7:00-8:00pm at Grace Church. Again, all skill levels are welcome at this free event.
The next evening, Thursday, March 30th, Lopez Islanders are invited to a “Musical Trip Around the World,” a free family concert at Lopez Center for Community and the Arts at 6:30pm.
Miho and Diego will be busy in the daytime during their Lopez Island stay, working with Lopez Public School kindergarten through high school classes and the little ones at Lopez Island Children’s Center.
Miho and Diego make a stop on Shaw Island on Friday, March 31st, to work with the Shaw School students during the day, and then present their “Musical Trip Around the World” to Shaw Islanders young and young at heart. Enjoy this free family concert at the Shaw Island Community Building at 6:30pm.
On Saturday, April 1st, at 2:00pm, Orcas Islanders will be treated to the Miho & Diego Duo’s “Musical Trip Around the World” at the Odd Fellows Hall. This free concert will be fun for all!
Don’t miss these educational and entertaining workshops and concerts! For more information, contact Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival at 360-376-6636 or email info@oicmf.org.
Jon Kimura Parker “Flying Solo”at Orcas Island Salon Concert
Jon Kimura Parker returns to Orcas Island for a solo Salon Concert on Sunday, March 12, at 3:30 PM. The audience will be treated to a diverse selection of engaging works by composers classical to contemporary. The setting for this concert will be the intimate living room of a lovely island home.
Jackie will perform Beethoven’s beautifully complex Sonata in F minor Opus 57, familiarly known as the Appassionata. Also on the program are Ravel’s Jeux d’Eau (Fountains), Scenes from a Jade Terrace by Alexina Louie, and, back by popular demand, two fantasies by William Hirtz, one on movie themes scored by Bernard Herrmann for thriller and sci-fi classics North by Northwest, Mysterious Island, and Psycho, and an audience favorite, the Wizard of Oz Fantasy. Watch and listen to Jackie talk about (and play excerpts from) William Hirtz’s Wizard of Oz Fantasy on Jackie’s YouTube video.
Enjoy the post-concert reception and join us for a glass of Thurston Wolfe wine and light appetizers provided by Bill Patterson of William Patterson Foods.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival office. Email info@oicmf.org or phone 360-376-6636 or (toll-free) 866-492-0003. Tickets are $75 and are available only at OICMF. Seating is very limited, so reserve your tickets soon!
First Hints of the 2017 Festival
More 20th Season details are emerging! Dates are set, artists are being lined up, and fabulous repertoire and special events are planned for the 2017 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.
Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s 20th Season, Saturday, August 5th through Sunday, August 20th, will include the return of many Festival favorite artists, including William Preucil, Alexandra Preucil, Martin Chalifour, Chee-Yun, David Harding, Bion Tsang, Desmond Hoebig, Anne Martindale Williams, Michael Collins, Timothy McAllister, Lorna McGhee, Jeffrey Kahane, the Miró Quartet, and our Artistic Leaders, Aloysia Friedmann and Jon Kimura Parker. Rising star violinist Benjamin Beilman will join the Festival for the first time. Look for romantic works by Franz Schubert throughout the program, and a work for saw and string quartet by Jake Heggie has been commissioned.
The 2017 season will also bring the return of the Children’s Concert, Open Rehearsal for Seniors, Know the Score lectures, Pre-Concert Talks, Hamlet Concerts, and OICMF on Lopez. We are thrilled to offer our quinquennial gift to the island, a free Concert in the Park on Sunday, August 13th, this year featuring the return of Jon Kimura Parker and the OICMF Stage Band performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Ticket pre-sales for those who donate $600 and up will begin on April 18th. Early Birds will be able to purchase tickets in person at Orcas Center the morning of May 2nd, and online ticket sales begin at 5:00 that evening.
2016 Leaves of Gold: “A Bach Celebration!”
Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival is very pleased to present its annual Leaves of Gold concert at 6:00 PM on Thursday, December 8. “A Bach Celebration!” will feature music by J.S. Bach, the composer Beethoven called the “Immortal God of Harmony.”
Two violinists will join Rosario Resort’s grand piano, and the historic pipe organ in the Music Room at the Rosario mansion will be tuned up and ready to add a big, dramatic thrill to this season’s concert. OICMF Artistic Director and violinist Aloysia Friedmann and OICMF Artistic Advisor and pianist Jon Kimura Parker are joined by two returning Festival musicians, both internationally renowned, violinist Lilit Gampel and organist Gregory D’Agostino.
Currently, Lilit Gampel lives in New York and has performed as concerto soloist with the New York Philharmonic, among other great orchestras. She also plays in the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. The Chicago Tribune commented on her “super-accurate ear…control of tone…prodigious talent.”
Gregory D’Agostino has performed around the world. He’s the Director of Music and Organist at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament near Lincoln Center and is on faculty at the Mannes School of Music. His playing has been described by The American Organist magazine as a “stunning, controlled delirium.”
The concert will take place in the Music Room at Rosario Resort, which sparkles with holiday cheer. A reception will follow in the Mansion Dining Room, featuring a wonderful buffet with hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and wine, prepared by executive chef Raymond Southern and his staff. Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival is grateful to Rosario Resort owners Jan and Jerry Barto for hosting this event. Tickets are $150 ($75 is tax deductible). To reserve your seat, email linda@oicmf.org or call 360-376-6636.
Looking Ahead to Season 20 in 2017!
The Next Festival will be Our 20th!
(How did we get here so quickly?)
We look toward Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival’s 20th Season in August of 2017 with great anticipation and excitement! We will welcome back many of our Festival alumni, and we will welcome new Festival musicians to the great family of OICMF Artists that has developed over the last 19 years.
Our dates are yet to be cast in stone, but we do know that the Festival will begin near the first weekend in August and will run for the next two weeks. The 20th season will include many celebratory events, including our gift to the island, a free outdoor Concert in the Park on Sunday, August 13th, at the Stage on the Green in Eastsound.
More information will be available as we get closer to next summer!
Salon Concerts October 22 and November 5
Save the Dates!
For large hall, big-piano-sound aficionados, we bring you TWO concert grand pianos on the Orcas Center stage on October 22nd!
And, to set the tone for the beautiful, quiet post-autumn island season, an intimate violin and piano concert in a lovely Orcas Island home on November 5th
Two Grand Pianos! Two Amazingly Dynamic Pianists! Two Fantastic Russian Piano Concertos!
“Jon Kimura Parker plays Carnegie Hall in late October!” is news enough—
but wait…
there’s more!
One week before Jon Kimura Parker performs the Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall, hear him perform it at OICMF’s special Carnegie Hall Concerto Preview, with live piano accompaniment!
The October 22 salon concert starts at 1:00 p.m. Jon Kimura Parker opens the program playing Prokofiev’s spirited and dynamic Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major, with up-and-coming star pianist Scott Cuellar playing the accompaniment on a second concert grand piano. Jackie talks about the Prokofiev C Major Concerto on his YouTube channel.
The second half of the program will feature Scott Cuellar playing Rachmaninoff’s beloved Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with Jon Kimura Parker accompanying on the second piano.
Scott Cuellar has been honored with many prestigious awards, including the gold medal at the 2016 San Antonio International Piano Competition. He is a doctoral student at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas, studying with Jon Kimura Parker.
Meet the artists at the post-concert reception in the Madrona Room and join us for a glass of Thurston Wolfe wine and light appetizers provided by Ron and Mary from the Orcas Village Store.
Tickets for this salon concert are $50 each and $5 for students 18 and under. Please contact the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival office for more information and to purchase tickets.
This special salon concert is generously underwritten by Judy and Dick Evans.
Violin + Piano = Tangos & Romance
Scott Cuellar returns with Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann on November 5th for Tangos and Romance, a violin and piano concert at 4:00 p.m. in an intimate setting at a beautiful home on Orcas Island.
You will be treated to lush and seductive tangos by Albeniz, Stravinsky, Schoenfield, and Piazzolla, interspersed with Ysaÿe’s passionate Ballade and romantic works by Schumann, for both solo piano and violin/piano duo.
Come and enjoy this sumptuous salon concert with Festival friends, delicious hors d’oeuvres, and OICMF signature wines in this gorgeous island setting.
Tickets for this lovely late afternoon Salon Concert are $75 each. Seating is very limited, so get your tickets early!
Information and tickets for both events can be obtained by contacting the OICMF office, either by phone at 360-376-6636 or email at linda@oicmf.org.