Quick Facts
Biography
Jon Kimura Parker, OC (born 25 December 1959) is a Canadian pianist.
Biography
"Jackie" was born in Vancouver, Canada, the son of Keiko Parker and the nephew of Edward Parker. His brother James Parker and cousin Ian Parker are also pianists.
He appeared with the Vancouver Youth Orchestra when he was five. He began his musical education at the Vancouver Academy of Music and The University of British Columbia and later studied at The Juilliard School under Adele Marcus.
Career
He is the recipient of many international awards, and has won famous international competitions, including the prestigious Leeds International Pianoforte Competition in 1984 at the age of 24. Parker received the National Arts Centre Award in 1996, a companion award of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1999.
He has performed worldwide.
He once appeared on an episode of the Canadian children's TV puppet series Under the Umbrella Tree. He played himself, as well as playing the role of the piano teacher of the lead character Holly (the only lead human among a small cast of puppets). Near the end of the episode Parker performs a concert as part of the show, starting with Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.
Parker has recorded works by Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev. His recordings appear on CBC Records and the Telarc labels, among others.
He is currently Professor of Piano at The Shepherd School of Music, Rice University in Houston, Texas, and as of 2015, is part of the group "Off the Score", with Stewart Copeland, Yoon Kwon, Marlon Martinez and Judd Miller.