American composers take the limelight in this concert, including Copland, Gershwin, Ives, Bernstein, and Adams. Experience the modern and contemporary musical style that this vast country has offered the world. The South Saskatchewan Youth Orchestra will join the RSO in peforming Copland’s Rodeo.

Ian Parker

Magnetic, easy-going and delightfully articulate, Canadian pianist Ian Parker captivates audiences wherever he goes. He has appeared with the philharmonic orchestras of Buffalo, Calgary and Louisiana, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom and the symphonies of Cicinnati, Edmonton, Honolulu, Kitchener-Waterloo, Long Beach, National/Washington, D.C., Quebec, Regina, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Virginia and Winnipeg, among others.

An enthusiastic recitalist, Ian Parker has performed across the United States, Western Europe, Israel, and throughout Canada on tours with Debut Atlantic and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. He made his Lincoln Center recital debut at the Walter Reade Theater in 2004.
Mr. Parker was invited to collaborate with the internationally renowned Vogler Quartet during its twentieth anniversary tour in 2005-06 throughout the U.S. and Canada. He has also begun appearing with the up-and-coming Attacca Quartet, as well as with violinist Augustin Hadelich in numerous venues.
Ian Parker is also an active recording artist. In the fall of 2010, a CD of concerti recorded with the London Symphony under Michael Francis, was released by ATMA Classique. An all-fantasy solo CD on Azica Records was released in the summer of 2010.
First Prize winner at the 2001 CBC National Radio Competition, Mr. Parker has also won the Grand Prize at the Canadian National Music Festival, the Corpus Christie International Competition and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition. He holds both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky.