David Parker, Principal Horn

David Parker holds degrees in music from Boston University, the University of Toronto and Acadia University. Further studies have included residencies at the Royal Conservatory of Music, Tanglewood, the National Repertory Orchestra and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan. His influential teachers have included Daniel Katzen, Hermann Baumann and Eugene Rittich.

David has been a member of the Israel Sinfonietta, l’Orquestre Symphonique de Québec, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. He has also performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera.

David has been a recipient of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust. He was a finalist at the 1991 American Solo Horn Competition, and Silver Medalist at the 1984 CIBC National Music Competition. He can be heard regularly as a soloist and chamber musician on CBC radio. He performs regularly as a soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, and as chamber musician in series throughout the Maritimes including the Music Room, Dalhousie University Faculty Artist Series, Saint Cecilia, Acadia University's Garden Room, the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival, the Charlottetown Festival, and Music at the Three Churches.

David has been principal hornist of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2000 and is on the faculty of Dalhousie University.

Q&A with David

How did you come to play the horn?
I started playing the trumpet at age nine. After seven years of playing it badly, I decided I didn't like it. (My parents probably didn't like the way I played it either!) After experimenting with different instruments including trombone, euphonium, clarinet, piano, and guitar (I only knew three chords), I settled on the horn.
 
How did you become interested in classical music?
I did have the opportunity to hear the Bolshoi Ballet in a rehearsal as a child growing up in my hometown of Wolfville. The next time I heard a live classical performance was when I was eighteen on a trip to Europe. The first concert I saw was with James Levine conducting the Vienna Philharmonic with Itzhak Perlman as soloist in the Musikverein. I was pretty much hooked. (It was a thrill to perform in the Musikverein twelve years later!)
 
Who's the person who most influenced you and why?
Both my uncle and my godmother play the piano. I remember as an infant sitting by their feet listening to them play at parties 'til the wee hours of the morning, way past my bedtime (it was the sixties)! I'm sure they both somehow had an influence on my choice of career. (I'm not sure if it was the parties or the music!)
 
What's the best gig you've ever performed?
It's a toss-up between Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, and Lionel Richie.
 
What's the best part about playing in Symphony Nova Scotia?
Getting to play with Mary Lee!
Getting to live in Halifax and spending time with my goddaughter Katherine.
Knowing my parents are in the audience.
 
What is something nobody may know about you?
I have had the opportunity to spend six winter seasons on Sable Island. I also spent ten years in the Army. 
 
What are some of your outside interests?
I have exhibited as a landscape and portrait photographer. (It used to pay my rent!) I shot my first wedding when I was eleven and my last one a few weeks ago. I do Ashtanga yoga and love to swim in the ocean. Apparently I like to dance.
 
What's your favourite food?
Sushi!
 
Who's on your iPod?
Chet Baker, Luis Miguel, Elizabeth Schwartzkopf, Stan Getz, Glenn Gould, MIKA, Cecilia Bartoli, Lyle Lovett, and Shirley Horn.

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