PARKER RAMSAY

Parker Ramsay’s career is distinguished by its breadth and crossing of instrumental boundaries and genres at the harp, organ and harpsichord. At age seventeen, Parker was awarded the organ scholarship at King’s College, Cambridge where he served under the direction of Stephen Cleobury. His tenure with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge included performing for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in 2012, as well as six international tours and four recordings. In 2014, he was awarded First Prize at the Amsterdam International Organ Competition. Parker has performed at the Concertgebouw in (Amsterdam), the Royal Albert Hall (London), the Musée d’Orsay (Paris), the National Center for the Performing Arts in (Beijing), Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (Seoul), Verizon Hall in (Philadelphia), Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (New York City).

As a harpist, Parker specializes in repertoire for early harps and new music for the modern pedal harp. In March 2018, he led the University of Louisville Harp Project, premiering nine works written for solo harp. In 2019, he will record his own transcription of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations for the pedal harp at the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge. As a continuo player, he has worked with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Academy of Sacred Drama, and the Shanghai Camerata. In 2020, he will commence the Kithara series in New York, in which he will premiere six new chamber works for harp and other instruments during the 2020-21 season. Parker has worked closely with composers such as Marc Satterwhite, David Fulmer, Tom Morrison and Saad Haddad.

Parker holds a bachelor’s in history from the University of Cambridge (UK), and a master’s degree and artist diploma in historical keyboards from Oberlin Conservatory. He also holds a master’s degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Nancy Allen, principal harpist of the New York Philharmonic. His prior teachers were Isabelle Perrin (Head of Strings, Norwegian Academy of Music, Oslo), Sivan Magen (Principal Harp, Finnish Radio Symphony, Helsinki) and Skaila Kanga (Head of Harp Emerita, Royal Academy of Music, London). In addition to his work as a performer, he works as a staff writer for VAN Magazine (Berlin) and maintains his blog, Harping On: Thoughts from a Recovering Organist.

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“The U.S.A.’s hottest baroque band.” –CLASSICAL MUSIC MAGAZINE (UK)