Santa Fe New Music Presents The Music and Sound Project with Steve Parker, Trombonist

Saturday, November 7, 2009, 7:00 p.m.

Santa Fe New Music announces the Santa Fe debut of trombonist Steve Parker and his innovative "Music and Sound Project." The concert takes place Saturday, November 7, at 7:00 p.m. at the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Trombonist Steve Parker is an active soloist, chamber musician, and arts educator. An advocate of new music, he has commissioned or premiered over a hundred works in the US and Europe. He was named a Fulbright Scholar to perform contemporary music in Germany and awarded an ENCORE grant by the American Composer’s Forum to solo in the American premiere of MEN by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lang.

Speaking of The Music and Sound Project, Parker explains,"I have always been fascinated by the intersection of language and sound.  From the melody of human conversation to the Sequenzas of Berio, I have continued to find interesting parallels in these two areas. 

"To this end, I have commissioned fifteen composers to write me pieces that explore the concept of language and sound.  My only requirement for each commission was that the duration last less than five minutes and somehow explore the theme of language and sound.  The results have been extremely surprising and varied.

"Each piece approaches this theme from a unique angle: one composer created a piece that explores the language of Chimpanzees.  Another composed a work written in the Tuvan-style of throat singing.  Still another took statements made by JS Bach and intertwined them with melodies played by the trombone."

Composers whose works for acoustic trombone and electro-acoustic trombone are featured on the program include: Jacob ter Veldhuis, Naftali Schindler, At Gottschalk, and John Kennedy, SFNM's Artistic Director and Founder, whose commissioned work for Parker, "Spoletudes," was premiered at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2008.

As a soloist, Parker has been featured at the Spoleto Festival, BACKFABRIK in Berlin, Bowerbird in Philadelphia, and Roulette in New York. He has performed guest solo recitals at the Oberlin Conservatory, the College Music Society at Northwestern University, and the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. In the orchestral realm, Parker has worked with Pierre Boulez and Ensemble InterContemporain at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland and has received fellowships with the Music Academy of the West, Spoleto Festival, and National Repertory Orchestra. He has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony, New World Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Sarasota Opera.

In the field of chamber music, Parker is a member of duo In Freundschaft, a collaboration with cellist Jason Calloway of the Biava Quartet.  He is a member of the NYC-based ensemble Second Instrumental Unit and has performed with Brad Lubman’s Signal Ensemble and with members of the Bang on a Can All- Stars in concerts featured on Jim Lehr’s PBS NewsHour.

As an educator, Parker is on faculty at the Bay View Music Festival.  He has worked extensively for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Classical Symphony as a Lead Teaching Artist and Director of Education, respectively. He has been a guest speaker at The Curtis Institute of Music and has given masterclasses at several colleges and universities.  

Parker received a MM from Rice University and a BA/BM from Oberlin College in Applied Mathematics and Music.  He is currently engaged as a Harrington Scholar at the University of Texas at Austin. 

SFNM’s Artistic Director John Kennedy relates that "Parker is an up and coming soloist who really explores the outer edges of what is often a misunderstood and stereotyped instrument. The trombone is in fact an extremely versatile instrument, and Steve's work is virtuosic, bold, and beautiful. His project includes pieces by some of the most interesting younger composers on the scene, and the range of what these composers has created is fantastic - I can promise that these composers will be much more well known in ten years, and you can hear them here first. This is an exciting concert to elevate SFNM's fall season."

This concert is presented in collaboration with the Santa Fe Art Institute.

Santa Fe Art Institute, 1600 St. Michael's Drive. Tickets: $25; available at www.events.sfnm.org; or Nicholas Potter Booksellers, 211 East Palace Avenue. This event is part of SFNM's Season Subscription Series.

Through concerts, commissions, and educational events, Santa Fe New Music promotes understanding of, enthusiasm for, and participation in the music of our time, serving as an advocate for new classical music and its future. SFNM was founded by Artistic Director John Kennedy in 2000. Santa Fe New Music is a 501(c)3 corporation.