JON KIMURA PARKER INVITED BACK TO HOST
“THIS IS MY MUSIC”
Saturday, December 4 from 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon, nation-wide on CBC Radio 2
“More often, however, he made the piano roar, and the enthusiastic audience did the same at the work’s conclusion. Their reward was an encore: the final movement of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 23, the beloved ‘Appassionata.’ Parker introduced it as his favorite sonata and offered an interpretation that, like him, is best described as fearless.”
-San Diego Union-Tribune, April 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO – Media friendly Jon Kimura Parker (“Jackie”) will guest host CBC Radio Two’s “This is My Music” for the second time this Saturday, December 4 from 10:00 AM – 12:00 noon, nation-wide. His first appearance as guest host took place in the fall of 2009.
Veteran CBC broadcaster Laurie Brown serves as a “radio emcee” with opening remarks, and turns the show over to the guest host who introduces listeners to his or her own personal library. All kinds of music and stories are presented, along with the memories and anecdotes to go with them. Post broadcast, Jackie’s episode will be posted at the week of December 6. Fans can also regularly check his website at for regular updates.
Listeners can look forward to Jackie’s dozen selections of music – everything from Baroque composer Johannes Kapsberger to the 102-year old Elliott Carter, as well as Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and the original theme of television’s “Star Trek”. Listeners will hear about a bug that flew up Jackie’s nose mid-performance; a gig with Barenaked Ladies which included a discussion about child-rearing techniques; and his discreetly tossing in a Star Trek melody into a Mozart cadenza just to see if anyone was listening. Other stories include the twist in the tale of the sale of a New York City apartment, and the Icelandic journalist who snapped a photo of Jackie doing yoga with an orchestra during the rehearsal break.
Jon Kimura Parker, who has the usual impressive credentials of an internationally renowned concert pianist, has repeatedly veered off the usual track to partake in some pretty cool projects. In the spring of 2007 he performed and spoke alongside humanitarians Elie Wiesel and Paul Rusesabagina at the 50th Anniversary of AmeriCares, under whose auspices he performed in war-torn Sarajevo in 1995. He gave the world premiere of Peter Schickele’s “Music for Orcas Island” and in 2009 he joined Cho-Liang Lin in the world premiere of a violin sonata by Paul Schoenfield. He’s jammed with Doc Severinsen and Bobby McFerrin, and Canada invested him as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1999. A regular at chamber music festivals in North America, he is Artistic Advisor of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, founded by Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann. Now Professor of Piano at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, Houston, Jackie’s main teachers included Edward Parker, Keiko Parker, Robin Wood, Marek Jablonski, Lee Kum-Sing, and Adele Marcus, under whom he received his doctorate at the Juilliard School of Music.
Jon Kimura Parker is always thrilled with his ongoing collaboration with CBC Radio, and he gratefully acknowledges Hele Montagna, Producer, Radio Music, for CBC Toronto. For more information, please visit
Media contact:
Liz Parker,
Foundress, LIZPR
/ 416 544 1803 /