January 29, 2017 - 3:00pm
Taube Atrium Theater
Located in the Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera
Veterans Building, Fourth Floor, 401 Van Ness Avenue
Ravel: "Le tombeau de Couperin"
Stravinsky: Pulcinella suite
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-Flat major
parker van ostrand, soloist
About our soloist...
Parker van Ostrand, piano
Pianist Parker Van Ostrand, 13, has been playing since he was 4 years old. Just one year later, he won the gold medal at the American Association for the Development of the Gifted and Talented (AADGT) competition and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall.
He has since returned to Carnegie Hall twice, and has also performed in various cities throughout the U.S., Japan, and Singapore. He was a finalist in the Mondavi Young Artist Competition in 2016, and currently studies with Linda Nakagawa and Natsuki Fukasawa.
“I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to perform with Symphony Parnassus,” Parker said. “I hope the audience will enjoy the Beethoven as much as I do.”
“This piece is full of different characters, from charming at the beginning of the first movement to the beautiful melodies in the second movement to the lively dance in the third movement,” he said.
An 8th grader, Parker lives with his parents and two brothers in Sacramento, Calif. Though he was the first pianist in the family (one brother now plays, too), he wasn’t the first musician; his mom, Juliette Luong, studied cello at Eastman School of Music.
In addition to playing the piano, Parker enjoys running with his school’s track team as well as with the Pacific Racers Athletic Association. In the summer of 2016, he participated in the Junior Olympics. He also enjoys painting and learning Japanese.