"Rich and Pure Sound"
-Boston Musical Intelligencer
Parker Nelson is redefining the limits of what the horn can do with innovative programs that include his own original arrangements, transcriptions, techniques, commissions, and new context for standard practices and repertoire. As a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician, and teacher, Parker actively works with communities both home and abroad to continually expand the cultural, educational, and artistic reach of the 21st century horn player.
Parker is a dynamic soloist and consistently creates new concert and recital programs to highlight his wealth of original arrangements for horn that include unaccompanied horn, horn and piano, and horn with looping pedal. With works ranging from Bach and Dvorak, to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, no genre of music is off limits. Parker also actively expands the repertoire for the horn by commissioning established and up-and-coming composers such as Thomas Weaver, Karalyn Schubring, and Aaron Houston. By no means shy of the traditional, Parker has also been a featured soloist in series programs at universities and with orchestras around the country.
Parker is a dynamic soloist and consistently creates new concert and recital programs to highlight his wealth of original arrangements for horn that include unaccompanied horn, horn and piano, and horn with looping pedal. With works ranging from Bach and Dvorak, to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, no genre of music is off limits. Parker also actively expands the repertoire for the horn by commissioning established and up-and-coming composers such as Thomas Weaver, Karalyn Schubring, and Aaron Houston. By no means shy of the traditional, Parker has also been a featured soloist in series programs at universities and with orchestras around the country.
"Navigating the spotlight especially well"
-Boston Musical Intelligencer
As a chamber musician, Parker continues his love of breaking musical boundaries with Chicago’s Fifth House Ensemble, a concert organization that presents innovative programs including collaborations with pop musicians from other cultures (Nedudim), educational partnerships with the incarcerated and at-risk youth (Broken Text), and the world’s first audience-interactive video game concert in which musicians react to the audience’s live gameplay for an immersive sonic experience as different as each potential audience (Journey LIVE). The New York Times cites Fifth House Ensemble’s “conviction, authority and finesse” while the San Francisco Chronicle writes of the ensemble’s most recent CD release: “The whole undertaking is marked by spirited music-making of the finest kind”; and the Chicago Tribune noted that the group “demonstrated how far talent and imagination can go to create something bracingly different.”
Parker also continues to play frequently with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, among many others. Awarded a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2014, Parker has also studied with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performed under such prolific conductors as Andris Nelsons, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Stephane Denéve, Marcelo Lehninger, and Stephan Asbury.
Parker also continues to play frequently with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra, and the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra, among many others. Awarded a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2014, Parker has also studied with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and performed under such prolific conductors as Andris Nelsons, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Stephane Denéve, Marcelo Lehninger, and Stephan Asbury.
"Low and Brassy, Perfect Pitch"
- Philly Review
Serving both as Fifth House Ensemble’s horn player and Educational Programming Coordinator, Parker is an active educator, giving lectures and performances at Northwestern University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of Texas - Austin, and Michigan State University, amongst others. He particularly enjoys engaging underserved communities by organizing, creating, and teaching programs for youth and women experiencing homelessness and youth housed at temporary detention facilities. Parker is also a faculty member at the Fresh Inc Festival, maintains a private studio, and is always interested in new opportunities to teach at any level.
Parker received a Master of Music degree with distinction in Horn Performance from DePaul University, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University. Parker’s primary instructors have been soloist and chamber musician, Eric Ruske, James Smelser, Second Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and, Dale Clevenger, former Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Parker received a Master of Music degree with distinction in Horn Performance from DePaul University, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University. Parker’s primary instructors have been soloist and chamber musician, Eric Ruske, James Smelser, Second Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and, Dale Clevenger, former Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
“Parker Nelson breathes new life into one of the most iconic classical instruments by exploring electronic looping techniques, new commissions that stretch the realm of the possible, and his own original arrangements which feature his own playing to powerful effect. His performances hit you right in the gut: visceral, committed, and full of the kind of direct expression that is often lacking in classical performance.”
- Dan Visconti, Composer
Downloadable copies of both this biography and Parker's headshot
| Parker Nelson Biography |
| Parker Nelson Headshot |