Nathaniel F. Parker
Associate Conductor, Dr. Bobbie Bailey GYSO Artistic & Executive Director & GYSO Symphony Director
A talented and versatile musician, Nathaniel F. Parker has conducted professional orchestras in the United States, Peru, Russia, Poland, England, and the Czech Republic. Equally at home working with professionals and training future generations of musicians, Dr. Parker is the Dr. Bobbie Bailey Artistic & Executive Director of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras (GYSO) and associate conductor of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra (GSO). He also serves as director of orchestral studies and associate professor of music at the Kennesaw State University Bailey School of Music.
Parker’s work as a conductor, scholar and educator has been recognized by the New World Symphony (Florida), Tanglewood Music Center, the International Conductors Guild, the American Prize, the College Music Society (CMS), the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), and the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), among others. He is also the recipient of a Citation of Excellence in Teaching from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA).
Parker earned graduate degrees in orchestral conducting from Michigan State University (DMA) and Bowling Green State University (MM). He also earned a BM in bassoon performance, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University. His mentors and teachers include Raphael Jiménez, Leon Gregorian, Stephen Osmond and Emily Freeman Brown (conducting), and Jeffrey Lyman and Catherine Lewis (bassoon)
Dr. Parker is the recipient of numerous honors, awards, and scholarships. He was named a finalist for a Conducting Fellowship with the New World Symphony, a semi-finalist for a Conducting Fellowship at Tanglewood, and a Candidate for the Respighi Prize in Conducting; he also received a Citation of Excellence in Teaching from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association. An active scholar, Dr. Parker’s writings have been published by the Conductors Guild and the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA). He has presented research at the College Orchestra Directors Association’s national and international conferences and is Editor of the Journal of the Conductors Guild.
Dr. Parker has served as Music Director and Conductor of the Concert Orchestra and faculty at New England Music Camp (Maine), and Interim Music Director and Conductor of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestra’s (GYSO) Symphony and Camerata orchestras. Before relocating to Georgia, he was Director of Orchestral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Marywood University (Pennsylvania) where he was Music Director and Conductor of the Marywood University Orchestra and taught courses in conducting, instrumental methods, musicology, and analytical techniques. Other previous positions include Associate Conductor and Production Manager of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), Music Director and Conductor of the Jackson Youth Symphony Orchestra, Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Community Music School, Graduate Conducting Intern at Michigan State University, Music Director and Conductor of the Mason Orchestral Society’s Community Orchestra and Youth Symphony (Michigan), Assistant Director of Music at Xaverian High School (New York), Conductor of the New Music Festival of Sandusky Orchestra (Ohio), and Graduate Assistant Conductor and Teaching Assistant at Bowling Green State University (Ohio).
Parker earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting from Michigan State University, where his primary instructors were Leon Gregorian and Raphael Jiménez. During his time at MSU he regularly appeared with all the university orchestras and focused his doctoral research on Leonard Bernstein, specifically the composer’s Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety.” He earned a Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Bowling Green State University, where he studied with Emily Freeman Brown. His other conducting mentors include Stephen Osmond, Gary W. Hill, and Timothy Russell. In addition to his training in academia, Dr. Parker participated in numerous conducting master classes and workshops, conducting orchestras under the tutelage of nationally and internationally renowned conductors and conducting pedagogues including Christoph Eschenbach, George Hurst, Arthur Fagen, Markand Thakar, Mark Gibson, David Itkin, and Paul Vermel. Parker began his collegiate education at Arizona State University, where he studied bassoon with Jeffrey G. Lyman and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Bassoon Performance.
Nat resides in Kennesaw with his wife, Melody, their son, Jacob, and their dog, Sammy.
For more information, please visit www.nathanielfparker.com
