Bio

Based in Austin, Steve Parker is active as a performer, educator, and arts collaborator. He is presently on faculty at The University of Texas at San Antonio and is Artist-In-Residence at the Blanton Museum of Art and the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia.  He previously worked as a J. William Fulbright Scholar in Germany and a Donald D. Harrington Fellow at The University of Texas at Austin. 

As a soloist, Steve has performed in the US, Europe, Asia, and South America, with performances at the Spoleto Festival, futureplaces (Portugal), Santa Fe New Music, Bowerbird (Philadelphia), Roulette (NYC), BACKFABRIK (Berlin), HPR's From the Front Row (Houston), and the Gene Siskel Film Center (Chicago). An advocate of new music, Steve has commissioned or premiered over 100 new works, working with composers Helmut Lachenmann, Corey Dargel, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and David Lang. He is an artist of Ensemble Signal, described as "a new music dream team" (TONY), with appearances at Tanglewood, the Guggenhem Museum, Le Poisson Rouge, and the Bang on a Can Marathon.  His performances can be heard on NPR’s Performance Today, PBS Newshour, and on Bridge, Cantaloupe and Mode Records. 

In the orchestral realm, he has performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Sarasota Opera, Artosphere Festival Orchestra, and New World Symphony, with fellowships at the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez and Ensemble InterContemporain, Music Academy of the West, and the National Repertory Orchestra.

Winner of the 2012 Austin Critics' Table Award, Steve is the founder and director of SoundSpace at the Blanton Museum of Art.  SoundSpace is a concert series that features simultaneous, cross-disciplinary performances throughout the museum's galleries.  

Steve holds degrees from UT Austin, Rice, and Oberlin in Mathematics and Music.