Ian Parker, piano with Brooklyn Wood, violin & Albert Seo, cello
Rose Gellert Hall Series Opener
Saturday, October 3, 2026 – 7:30pm

Rose Gellert Hall Series Opener

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About the Artists

Ian Parker, pianist, conductor

Magnetic, easy-going, and delightfully articulate, Canadian pianist and conductor Ian Parker captivates audiences wherever he goes.

As a pianist, he has appeared with virtually every Canadian orchestra, notably the symphonies of Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver, Montreal, Winnipeg, Edmonton, the Calgary Philharmonic and Orchestre Métropolitain. Other highlights include the San Francisco, Cincinnati, National/Washington D.C, Santa Barbara, Richmond, and Honolulu symphonies, the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta, to name a few.

Conductor collaborations include Andrey Boreyko, JoAnn Falletta, Michael Francis, Bernhard Gueller, Giancarlo Guerrero, Fabio Mechetti, Edwin Outwater, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Bramwell Tovey, Joshua Weilerstein, and others.

Celebrated American conductor John Morris Russell, then Music Director of the Windsor Symphony, offered Parker his first professional opportunity to realize his growing passion for conducting by inviting him to conduct a subscription concert in Windsor from both keyboard and podium. This successful concert was the birth of a wonderful new chapter in Ian’s musical life, eventually culminating in the position of Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra at the Vancouver Academy of Music. Maestro Parker is serving in his seventh season at VAM working with some of Canada’s most promising young musicians; he programs and conducts four concert cycles per season in Vancouver’s historic Orpheum Theatre. He also initiated an ambitious recording program, which intensified during the pandemic when live performances were suspended, and has already encompassed complete cycles of Beethoven and Brahms symphonies.

An enthusiastic recitalist, Mr. Parker has performed across the United States, Europe, Israel, and throughout Canada on tours with Debut Atlantic, Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, and Piano Six. Recital highlights include the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, UCLA, the University of British Columbia, and collaborative performances at the Hawaii International Music Festival and the Morgan Library in New York City.

Additionally, he is Artistic Director of Resonate at the Kay Meek Centre in North Vancouver, where he curates a series of forward-looking chamber music concerts utilizing his extensive international artist network, often collaborating with his colleagues in performance.

Piano recordings include a CD with the London Symphony featuring three piano concertos: Ravel’s Concerto in G, Stravinsky’s Capriccio, and the Gershwin Concerto in F, conducted by Michael Francis and released by ATMA Classique. He also recorded an all-fantasy solo disk including fantasies of Chopin, Schumann, and Beethoven for Azica Records. Further, CBC Records produced his disk of Mozart concertos for one piano (K. 467), two pianos (K. 365), and three pianos (K. 242), featuring Ian and his two cousins, Jon Kimura Parker and Jamie Parker, with the Radio Orchestra, under conductor Mario Bernardi.

First Prize winner at the 2001 CBC National Radio Competition, Ian Parker has also won the Grand Prize at the Canadian National Music Festival, the Corpus Christi International Competition, and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition.

At The Juilliard School, he received the 2002 William Petschek Piano Debut Award, and, on two occasions, was the winner of the Gina Bachauer Piano Scholarship Competition.

Heard regularly on CBC Radio, he has also performed live on WQXR (hosted by Robert Sherman) in New York.

Born in Vancouver to a family of pianists, Ian began his piano studies at age three with his father, Edward Parker. He holds Bachelor’s and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. While at Juilliard, he was awarded the Sylva Gelber Career Grant by the Canada Council for the Arts, presented annually to the “most talented Canadian artist.”

Albert Seo, cello

Albert Seo is a Canadian cellist born and raised in Vancouver, BC. He began his studies at the age of seven with Cristian Markos, a current member of the orchestra. Former teachers include Ariel Barnes at the VSO School of Music, Joseph Elworthy at the Vancouver Academy of Music, and Sungyong Lim of the Borealis Quartet. Recently, he studied at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, completing his undergraduate studies in 2021. His professors were Carter Brey, principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic, and Peter Wiley, former cellist of the Guarneri Quartet.

He also spent summers participating in summer festivals and masterclasses, exploring all types of music with various ensembles. Some of these summer programs included the Aspen Music Festival & School, Domaine Forget, Abbaye de Fontainebleau, and Heifetz International Music Institute. At these programs and schools, he is grateful to have participated in masterclasses with Gary Hoffman, Colin Carr, Lluís Claret, Philippe Muller, Raphael Wallfisch, Paul Watkins, Paul Marleyn, and Roman Borys.

In 2015, Albert was a finalist at the Johansen International Competition for Young String Players and a semifinalist at the Stulberg International String Competition, where he also won the Bach Award. In 2016, he won the senior division of the VSO School of Music Future of Excellence Competition, resulting in the opportunity to perform Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the VSO. Other international competitions he has participated in include Concours OSM 2019 and Isangyun International Competition 2018.

Constantly finding ways to make music more relevant, Albert focuses not only on how he enjoys music but also on how he can share his love with the audience. To this day, Albert aspires to achieve a fluid playing style; though he is interpreting through the cello, he strives to make the performance as organic as possible.