Nathaniel F. Parker

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 Director of Orchestral Studies and Associate Professor of Music at the Kennesaw State University Bailey School of Music. Concurrent appointments include the positions of Associate Conductor of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra, the Dr. Bobbie Bailey Artistic Director of the Georgia Youth Symphony Orchestras (GYSO), and Music Director and Conductor of the GYSO Symphony. Dr. Parker’s work as a conductor and educator has been recognized by the New World Symphony (FL), Tanglewood Music Center, the American Prize, the College Music Society, 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. An active scholar, Dr. Parker’s writings have been published by the Conductors Guild and the College Orchesatra Directors Association. He has presented research at conferences of College Music Society, the College Orchestra Directors Association, and the Georgia Music Educators Association. 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 Jimenez, Leon Gregorian, Stephen Osmond, and Emily Freeman Brown (conducting), and Jeffrey Lyman and Catherine Lewis (bassoon).