Don Parker
Performers are listed inside.
Sunday, November 16, 2025
7:30 pm
Faye Spanos Concert Hall
Trio in F Minor (2022)
Jaden Laumeister, oboe
Lily Walter, horn
Angel Camacho-Ibarra, piano
Nocturne (2025)
Don Parker, classical guitar
Pathways (2023)
Leo Milano, tenor saxophone
Don Parker, horn
Bergen Finley, piano
Kyle Saelee, bass
Victor Cyrus-Franklin, drums
Terms and Conditions (2025)
Aimee MacDonald, alto saxophone
Don Parker, guitar, horn
Izzy Knittle and Erick Sariles, violins
Samantha Tse, viola
Nick Trobaugh, cello
Jenna Kalik, vibraphone
Kyle Saelee, bass
Victor Cyrus-Franklin, drums
Don Parker (b. 2004)
PROGRAM NOTES
This recital is required for a Bachelor of Music in music composition.
Don Parker is a multi-genre composer and performer playing both jazz and classical music. Parker has played guitar and horn in the Pacific Jazz Ensemble and combos, Pacific Orchestras, Pacific Wind Bands, as well as with Pacific Brass Society and Pacific Repertoire Orchestra. He has performed, written for, and recorded with the 28/78 New Music Collective. Parker has also served as a recording engineer and lead engineer for the Owen Hall Recording Studio. At University of the Pacific Parker studies music composition with Andrew Conklin, Hendel Almetus, and Eric Wood. He studies horn with Sadie Glass.
Program notes by the composer
Trio in F Minor
Composed in my first semester at Pacific, Trio in F Minor was one of the first pieces I wrote as a student here. This trio for horn, oboe, and piano explores contrasts between dark and light, as well as incorporating call and response between the performers. The stormy final movement incorporates all the previous themes to form an energetic and intense finale.
Nocturne
Nocturne is a piece written for solo classical guitar, detuned to drop C, and evocative of nighttime and darkness. This piece has been recorded and is featured on the 28/78 New Music Collective's album, Voice Memories.
Pathways
Pathways is a jazz fusion piece for horn, sax, and rhythm section. The tonal center and phrase structure shifts constantly throughout the form, creating a feeling of instability. The A section is based around uneven seven-bar phrasing, while the B section shifts tonality by thirds. I deliberately orchestrated Pathways to be for horn and sax since the horn is very underrepresented in the modern jazz world, despite having its place in jazz history. Hornists including Julius Watkins, Willie Ruff, and John Clark have performed and recorded with many extremely influential musicians including Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Charles Mingus, Freddie Hubbard, Gil Evans, and plenty more. I hope to help re-introduce the instrument into modern contexts and demonstrate how much more versatile the instrument can be when taken outside of the classical pedagogy.
PROGRAM NOTES
Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions is a three-part suite that has been in progress for nearly a year. The first movement explores the intersection of jazz ensemble and classical chamber writing, with the introduction focused around the string quartet. The second movement features the guitar and follows a much more standard jazz form. The final movement features a groovy fusion section that introduces the horn. This final part is based around a cyclical bass line in 3/4 over a 4/4 drum beat.