“Up Close with Andy Parker,” January 10

Saturday, January 10, 7:30 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa Street, Davenport IA

An intimate evening of gorgeous classical music will be hosted by Davenport's First Presbyterian Church on January 10, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra showcasing its principal oboe player in Up Close with Andy Parker, a night of lilting and energetic compositions with Parker accompanied on piano by frequent QCSO guest performer Marian Lee.

Currently Assistant Professor of Oboe at the Butler School of Music, Parker was previously Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Iowa. He has provided master classes throughout the country at such institutions as the University of Michigan, Temple University, Rice University, the University of Florida, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Luther College, Mannes Preparatory Division, and the University of Virginia, to name a few. Parker has been the guest artist at several double reed events around the country in addition to co-hosting a Double Reed Clinics and Competition for five years at the University of Iowa. The musician also served as an adjudicator for the National Youth Orchestra, hosted by Carnegie Hall.

Parker maintains a rich career as an orchestral musician, soloist, and chamber player and addition to his experience as a teacher. He recently performed the world premiere of an oboe concerto, Pillars or Creation, with the University of Texas Wind Ensemble. He has also played in many orchestras in North America, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Richmond Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Flint Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Great Falls Symphony, and the Plymouth Symphony.

In addition to his collegiate teaching and performing experience, Parker has taught and coached chamber music at various international music festivals, including the Round Top Music Festival, Oboe Fest in San Juan, FEMUSC festival in Brazil, the Hartwick Festival in New York, and the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont. In 2009, he was appointed the English horn Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival; a position he maintained for four seasons. In his tenure as English horn fellow, Andrew performed under the baton of several notable conductors.

An Assistant Professor of Piano at St. Ambrose University who received her Doctor of Musical Arts at Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, pianist Marian Lee made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall as the 1995 winner of the Artist International Award. She went on to serve as a soloist and chamber performer in Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Poland, Russia, Thailand, and Hong Kong, as well as in major cities throughout the United States. Lee has made numerous appearances at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and performed an exclusive recital in the Hermitage Theater at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, and also played piano in a nationally televised broadcast from Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. Additionally, Lee helped develop Moscow Nights, a first-time collaboration between the music and Russian-language departments at the University of Delaware, and served as president of the Delaware Music Teachers Association.

Performing an intimate evening of music in the beautiful Davenport sanctuary, the program for Parker's and Lee's January 10 concert features three compositions expressly written for their instruments: Camille Saint-Saens' "Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 166," Gunter Raphel's "Sonata for Oboe and Piano, Op. 32," and Peter Hope's "Sonata for Oboe and Piano."

Up Close with Andy Parker will be presented at the First Presbyterian Church on January 10, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert is $13-31, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)322-0931 and visiting QCSO.org.