“Up Close with Robert Parker" at the Figge Art Museum -- November 1.
Saturday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Boasting a rich mix of classical and contemporary works that highlight the trombone’s expressive brilliance, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra opens its 2025-26 season of intimate Up Close performances with Up Close with Robert Parker, a November 1 event at Davenport's Figge Art Museum featuring the talents of the QCSO's Principal Trombonist and pianist Marian Lee.
In addition to his tenure with the QCSO, Dr. Robert Parker joined the Des Moines Symphony in 2024 as Second Trombone, and is Principal Trombonist of Orchestra Iowa. Over the course of his career, Parker has performed with the Houston Symphony, Tallahassee Symphony, Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, and Sinfonia Gulf Coast, among others ensembles. An avid educator, he additionally serves on the faculty at Drake University and maintains a private studio of low-brass students, and many of his students having been accepted into All-State ensembles.
As a soloist, Parker has appeared with groups including the Magnolia City Brass Band, UNC-Greensboro Wind Ensemble, Cedar Rapids Municipal Band, and Iowa Trombone Choir. He has presented recitals and masterclasses at universities and high school music programs in Iowa, Illinois, and numerous other states, and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in trombone performance and pedagogy at the University of Iowa in 2018, the Master of Music degree at Florida State University, and the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Parker is an Edwards Instrument Company artist, and performs on a custom Edwards tenor trombone.
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.
Six masterful compositions are scheduled to be performed during the musicians' Up Close with Robert Parker event: Eugene Bozza's Hommage a Bach (1957); Gustav Mahler's Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen (1899); James David's Secure. Contain. Protect. (2021); Leonard Bernstein's Elegy for Mippy II (1959); Sean Mutter's Ages (2008); and Igor Stravnsky's Pulcinella Suite, VII. Duetto (1922).
Up Close with Robert Parker will be performed in Davenport's Figge Art Museum on November 1, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert is $13-31, and information and tickets are available by calling (563)322-0931 and visiting QCSO.org.
