Pianist even better when he can use all 10 of his fingers
You’ll be surprised how pianist Jon Kimura Parker is preparing for Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Concerto No.1” with the HPO under guest conductor Dina Gilbert in FirstOntario Concert Hall on Jan. 18.
But first, we’ll have to go back to Parker’s standout reading of Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the HPO in September 2013, which, as you’ll read, turns out to be all the more jaw-dropping.
“I wonder if anyone noticed when I played the Rachmaninoff that I had a fairly large bandage on the middle finger of my left hand?” the Vancouverborn, Houston-based Parker told The
Spectator from his second home on Orcas Island in the State of Washington. “I had cut my fingertip with a vegetable peeler a few days earlier and almost thought I would have to cancel.
“Thankfully, the ‘Rhapsody’ is a piece I have played as often as the Tchaikovsky,
and I managed to change all the left hand fingerings to avoid using that finger.
“So, the main part of my preparation this time around is to be very careful in the kitchen.”
Parker’s first-ever record was the Tchaikovsky, paired with Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” for the Telarc label with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under André Previn. The recording sessions for that took place in 1985 in Watford Town Hall, England.
“He’d (Previn) been ill and had had to cancel the rehearsals, so my first ever experience in a recording studio was the Tchaikovsky concerto with no rehearsals,” recalled Parker.
Since then, Parker has gone on to play it in Japan, North America, and Europe.
The all-Tchaikovsky concert, which also includes the “Polonaise” from “Eugene Onegin” and the “Symphony No. 5,” will cap the HPO’s Tchaikovsky Festival, which formally concludes with Gilbert leading a post-concert Pro-Am Jam in the “Waltz” from “Sleeping Beauty” and “Trepak” from
“The Nutcracker” on the FirstOntario Concert Hall’s mezzanine.
The festival opens on Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Burlington Central Library, 2331 New St., with HPO composerin-residence Abby RichardsonSchulte giving a talk and piano demonstration on Tchaikovsky’s life and influence.
Then at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul’s United, 29 Park St. W., Dundas, Richardson-Schulte will explore “The Influence of Tchaikovsky.” Free admission to both, but registration is required. Log on to hpo.org.
She’ll reprise her “Tchaikovsky:
His Life and Music” talk on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at noon in the Hamilton Public Library’s Central Branch, 55 York Blvd. Admission is free.
On Friday, Jan. 17 at 11 a.m., she’ll lead a Seniors’ Talk & Tea with a sneak a peek at the HPO’s rehearsal. Cost is $12.
The meeting point is the stage door at 10 MacNab St. S. And yes, there’s a Tchaikovsky Happy Hour, too, on Thursday, Jan. 16 at 5:30 p.m. in Shawn & Ed Brewing Co., 65 Hatt St., Dundas. Admission is $25, advance $20.
á Sunday, Jan. 12 from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Rock on Locke, 320
Charlton Ave. W., Cem Zafir’s Zula Presents Something Else! presents “Watch it Burn #1,” a new composite arts series featuring a triple bill of the Nomad Trio, the jazz film “On the Road with Ellery Eskelin,” and a dance with spoken word piece by Learie Mc Nicolls plus Megan English’s “A Sublime Order” with accompaniment by Dale Morningstar.
Admission: $20, advance $15, student/senior/un (der) employed $10.