Kevin Park
Artistic Director
DATE
Tue. October 15, 2024 - 1:00 PM
North Delta Centre for the Arts, Delta
SOLD
Anvil Centre, New Westminster
Mon. October 21, 2024 - 1:00 PM
SOLD
Wed. October 23, 2024 - 1:00 PM
Highlands United Church, North Vancouver
SOLD
Thur. October 24, 2024 - 7:30 PM
Chilliwack Cultural Centre, Chilliwack
SOLD
PROGRAM
Lieder selection
Franz Schubert
- Robyn Driedger-Klassen (soprano), Ian Parker (piano)
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Ständchen from Schwanengesang, D. 957
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So laß mich scheinen from Wilhelm Meister, Op. 62, D. 877
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Gretchen am Spinnrade, Op. 2, D. 118 from Goethe's Faust
Shepherd on the Rock
Franz Schubert
- Jacob van der Sloot (viola), Robyn Klassen (voice), Ian Parker (piano)
Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, "Trout"
Franz Schubert
Jason Ho (violin), Jacob van der Sloot (viola), Joseph Elworthy (cello), Dylan Palmer (bass), Ian Parker (piano)
I. Allegro vivace
II. Andante
III. Scherzo. Presto
IV. Theme and Variations (on the song "Die Forelle"). Andantino
V. Finale. Allegro giusto
ABOUT
ROBYN DRIEDGER-KLASSEN
Robyn Driedger-Klassen has been seen on many recital, concert and opera stages. Known particularly for her zeal for contemporary music, she has performed and premiered many fascinating works of living composers. Her most recent film projects include a production with City Opera Vancouver of Jake Heggie’s monodrama, At the Statue of Venus (available on YouTube) and a piece for Turning Point Ensemble’s 1+1+1 Project with composer Jeffrey Ryan and flautist, Brenda Fedoruk.
Robyn lives and teaches on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm|Musqueam, Sḵwxwú7mesh|Squamish & səlilwətaɬ |Tsleil-Waututh Nations. She is grateful to be on this shared territory and acknowledges a commitment to engage in ongoing acts of reconciliation.
Robyn is the Department Head and Division Chair at the Vancouver Academy of Music where she works mainly with advanced students of classical voice. She gains immense satisfaction and joy from teaching and her students regularly achieve glorious goals and live their wildest singing-dreams.
Giving unsolicited reading recommendations to anyone who will listen, and growing an epic garden are her superpowers. She lives with her husband and two young vocal critics who are capable of consuming shocking amounts of cereal each day. Robyn is adept at evading the ever-present question about why her family is “literally the only family without a dog”. By osmosis, she knows a considerable amount about black holes and deep-sea creatures, and she is an expert at avoiding Lego underfoot.
IAN PARKER
Magnetic, easy-going, and delightfully articulate, Canadian pianist/conductor Ian Parker captivates audiences wherever he goes. As a pianist, he has appeared with top Canadian orchestras including the symphonies of Toronto, Quebec, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Calgary Philharmonic. In the U.S., orchestral highlights include the San Francisco, Cincinnati, National, Santa Barbara, Richmond, and Honolulu symphonies as well as the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom, to name just a few. During the 2019/20 season, Mr. Parker will make his debuts with the Savannah and Bakersfield symphonies, and will return to the Pensacola and Okanagan symphonies, among others.
In addition to his work at the keyboard, Ian Parker is currently in his second season as music director and principal conductor of the VAM Symphony Orchestra at the Vancouver Academy of Music. Working with some of Canada’s most promising young orchestral players, Mr. Parker programs and conducts four concerts per season in Vancouver’s historic Orpheum Theatre. In July 2020 he will lead the orchestra in a 50th anniversary tour throughout China. He is also artistic director of the Resonate chamber music series at the Kay Meek Centre in North Vancouver.
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.
Mr. Parker’s recordings include a CD with the London Symphony conducted by Michael Francis featuring three piano concertos: Ravel Concerto in G, Stravinsky Capriccio, and Gershwin Concerto in F, released by ATMA Classique, and an all-fantasy solo CD including fantasies of Chopin, Schumann, and Beethoven on Azica Records. Additionally, CBC Records released a recording of three Mozart concertos for one piano (K. 467), two pianos (K. 365), and three pianos (K. 242) featuring Mr. Parker and his two cousins, Jon Kimura Parker and Jamie Parker, with the CBC Radio Orchestra and Mario Bernardi on the podium.
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 Christie 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, Mr. Parker began his piano studies at age three with his father, Edward Parker. He holds both the Bachelor 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.”
JACOB VAN DER SLOOT
Jacob van der Sloot started playing violin under the instruction of his mother and father, Daphne and Michael van der Sloot, when he was 5. He then switched to viola with his Father when he was 13 and was accepted to the Juilliard school to study with Steven Tenebom, where he would earn his Bachelors degree in 2019. Shortly after his undergraduate studies, Jacob became the youngest member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at age 22.
Growing up in Victoria BC, Jacob had the opportunity to solo with the Sidney Classical, Sooke Philharmonic and the VCM Senior string orchestras, being praised for his “..deep, rich sound with flying colours.” (Times Colonist, Canada) Jacob has gone on to perform in halls around the world such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall and Alice Tully hall in New York City, Museo Del Violino in Cremona, Bing Concert Hall in Stanford and the Bejing Conservatory Concert Hall, among others. He has enjoyed dedicating his summers to the study of music, participating in programs such as the Perlman Music Program, Morningside Music Bridge, the NAC’s Young Artist Program, Banff International Masterclass Program, PRISMA Music Festival, Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy and a fellowship at the Bowdoin Music Festival. It was at these festivals where Jacob had the opportunity to study with and play alongside renowned faculty such as Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Dimitri Murrath, Roberto Diaz, Atar Arad, Máté Szücs and Michael Gieler. Jacob also made his solo Carnegie debut in 2019 playing the Brahms E-flat Major viola sonata as part of Julie Jordan’s “International Rising Stars” concert series.
An avid chamber musician, Jacob was part of the Noctis Quartet, which won second place at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the WDAV Young Artists Competition. His chamber groups have also performed numerous times in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium. Jacob’s passion for chamber music also carries into music outreach, playing chamber music all over New York City in hospitals, prisons, retirement homes, schools and psychiatric facilities as part of Juilliard’s “Gluck” Fellowship program and through GroupMuse concerts. He also enjoys private teaching, and has served on faculty of the Victoria Summer Strings Academy.
Jacob's orchestral journey began with the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra. He has since played with the Juilliard Orchestra, the Juilliard Lab Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Principal Violist of both the Sidney Classical Orchestra and the New York Concerti Sinfonietta. Jacob joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2020 and is incredibly happy to call Vancouver his home.
JASON HO
A native of Vancouver, Jason Ho is a graduate of the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with David Updegraff. Jason began his musical studies at the age of four with Don Lum and also with Professor Andrew Dawes at the University of British Columbia.
Jason Ho was a grand prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, BC Festival of the Arts, UBC Concerto Competition, and Burnaby Clef Concerto Competition. Mr. Ho made his orchestral debut at the age of fourteen, and has served as concertmaster of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra.
Jason is currently a member of the First Violin section of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
JOSEPH ELWORTHY
President & CEO of the Vancouver Academy of Music, Joseph Elworthy has been a featured soloist, recitalist, and chamber music performer on such stages as Alice Tully Hall, Suntory Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, and Sejong Hall. Mr. Elworthy has been named a Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music for his extraordinary contribution to Canadian Arts and Culture, an honor he shares with such cultural icons as Oscar Peterson, Robertson Davies, Adrienne Clarkson and Leon Fleisher. His recordings can be heard on EMI, Sony, Archtype, Naxos and Bose record labels. In addition to receiving the Sylva Gelber Award of $15,000, Joseph has been the recipient of multiple Canada Council career grants exceeding $50,000. Mr. Elworthy is a graduate of the Juilliard School and Yale University where he was the recipient of the Aldo Parisot – Yo-Yo Ma Prize – the highest honour issued by Yale University to a graduating cellist.
Mr. Elworthy has been a visiting artist at the Beijing Conservatory, Harvard University, Royal Northern College of Music, Glenn Gould School, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Joseph Elworthy co-founded the Koerner Piano Trio, the first chamber ensemble in residence at the Vancouver Academy of Music. In 2013, Mr. Elworthy was appointed as Western Music Advisor for the newly established Haw Par Music Foundation – a collaborative educational initiative linking Vancouver and Hong Kong. Joseph Elworthy was a member of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra for 12 years before retiring from the orchestra in 2014. Joseph plays on a rare Ferdinando Gagliano circa 1760 that once belonged to the legendary German cellist, Hugo Becker.
DYLAN PALMER
Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Dylan Palmer joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) as Principal Double Bass in 2010. Prior to joining the VSO, Dylan was a member of the New World Symphony, in Miami Beach, Florida. Dylan has participated in numerous music festivals including Tanglewood, Pender Harbour Chamber Music, Spoleto (USA), Bellingham Festival of Music, Domaine Forget, and Sarasota Music Festival. Dylan is also an active music educator. He is currently the head of the bass department at the Vancouver Academy of Music and also serves on the faculty of the VSO School of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Texas, where he studied with performer and pedagogue Jeff Bradetich.
