BY KAREN BOSSICK
Jon Kimura Parker has performed in the remote Canadian Arctic. And he spoke alongside such humanitarians as Elie Wiesel during a special performance in war-torn Sarajevo in 1995.
He’s jammed with the likes of Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin and Doc Severinsen.
Now he will perform with his wife of 20-plus years, violinist and viola player Aloysia Friedmann, at 6:30 tonight—Thursday, March 21, at the Argyros Performing Arts Center. Tickets start at $25 and are available at www.theargyros.org or by calling 208-726-7872.
This is their first time they’ve gone on tour together, although both have performed in Sun Valley before. Friedmann has performed as a member of the Sun Valley Summer Symphony and Parker has performed as a soloist with the orchestra.
The two come from their home in Houston where they live with their daughter Sophie. Parker is a professor at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music there, and Friedmann teaches as an affiliate artist of viola and violin at the school of music at the University of Houston.
Parker and Friedmann plan to present a program of Mozart, Brahms and Chopin, along with a few tangos and even a Joplin rag.
Parker likes to quip that he hit the big time at birth--he was the first Christmas baby born in Vancouver, Canada, in 1959. The son of a couple who met as pen pals and were adamant about schooling their children in music, he spent many hours practicing the piano while his friends played softball. It paid off as he won hundreds of competitive events as a youngster.
He soon fell in love with Elton John, devouring his music even as he played along to the music of Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd, hoping one day to play in a rock group.
But, when push came to shove, he dove into the classical musical scene, playing in such halls as Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House and the Berlin Philharmonie.
Friedmann--the daughter of violinist Martin Friedmann and oboist Laila Storch--is the founder and artistic director of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival in Washington State. Praised for her fiery spirit, she has worked with such artists as Jessye Norman, Frederica von Stade, Andre Previn, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elton John and Metallica.