Mr. Parker recently made a triumphant, last-minute debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Porgy in Porgy and Bess. His European operatic debut came with performances of Mel in Anthony McDonald’s The Knot Garden at the Scottish Opera. His other recent performances include Alidoro in La cenerentola with Portland Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Utah Opera; Colline in La bohème previously with Fort Worth Opera, Cleveland Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Shreveport Opera; Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Fort Worth Opera as well as joining Houston Grand Opera for the same title, Banquo in Macbeth and Salieri in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mozart and Salieri with Anchorage Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with Chautauqua Opera and Opera Santa Barbara, Masetto in Don Giovanni with Houston Grand Opera, New Orleans Opera, and student performances with Dallas Opera; Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia with Chicago Opera Theatre; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Nourabad in Les pêcheurs de perles in returns to Utah Opera; and Zuniga in Carmen with Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Pensacola Opera. Other performances to his credit are the title role in Don Giovanni and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Cape Town Opera and Pensacola Opera and Spokane Opera; Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Birmingham, further performances of Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Chautauqua Opera, Pizarro in Fidelio with Virginia Opera; Sparafucile and Monterone in Rigoletto with Opera Couer d’Alene; Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Granite State Opera; Sprecher in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Pacific and Madison Opera; High Priest in Samson et Dalila with Orlando Opera; Sam in Un ballo in maschera with Palm Beach Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Opera Birmingham and Wolf Trap Opera, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and the Preacher in Treemonisha with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Monterone in Rigoletto with Berkshire Opera, Don Alhambra in The Gondoliers with Utah Opera at the Deer Valley Music Festival, and Méphistophélès in Faust as a guest artist at the University of Denver. He joined Cape Town Opera for Crown in Porgy and Bess with on tour in Sweden, Germany, and Norway as well as in Africa

A sought-after interpreter of the Baroque repertoire, Mr. Parker has also joined Chicago Opera Theater for Lucifer in performances of La Resurrezione conducted by Jane Glover, Claudio in Agrippina with Emanuelle Haim, and Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea directed by Mark Lamos. Following his Glimmerglass Opera debut as Antinoo in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, he was re-engaged by the company for Claudio in Agrippina in performances conducted by Harry Bicket. His first performances of Achilla in Giulio Cesare were with Utah Opera in a production directed by James Robinson. He has also sung Caronte in Orfeo with Houston Grand Opera as well as further performances of Claudio in Agrippina with Virginia Opera. In baroque concert repertoire, he recently joined Jane Glover for performances of Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, Houston Symphony, and at SUNY Purchase and has also sung the work with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Sioux City Symphony, National Chorale. He also joined Emannuelle Haim and Le Concert d’Astrée as a soloist in performances of Bach’s Magnificat and Handel’s Dixit Dominus touring France and Spain.

He recently sang his first performances of Haydn’s Creation with Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Also on the concert stage, he has sung A Child of Our Time with the Utah Symphony conducted by Keith Lockhart, Santa Rosa Symphony and Jeffrey Kahane, and with the Santa Cruz Symphony. He has joined both the Dallas Symphony and Pacific Symphony for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9; Utah Symphony for Mozart’s Requiem and Bernstein’s Mass; Evansville Philharmonic for Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13; Rochester Philharmonic for Bach’s Magnificat and a concert of Gilbert & Sullivan highlights; Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, both conducted by Marin Alsop as well as Poland’s Sinfonia Cracovia for Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess Suite; Santa Barbara Symphony for Haydn’s Paukenmesse; Boise Philharmonic for further performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Coland’s A Lincoln Portrait; New Choral Society for Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and Bach’s Mass in B minor; the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir for further performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor; and both the National Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony for concerts of opera favorites. He also returned to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a solo concert program commemorating July Fourth.

Derrick Parker is the recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshanna Foundation as well as a Sullivan Foundation Award. Among his other awards are prizes from the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation and Liederkrantz Foundation. He is a former member of the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio Program as well as Glimmerglass Opera’s Young American Artist program, Wolf Trap Opera’ Filene Young Artist Program, and the programs of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and Chautauqua Opera. He holds a Master of Music from Eastman School of Music where he sang Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, his first performances of Collatinus, and Voltaire and Pangloss in Candide and earned his Bachelor of Music from Florida State University.

Photo Credit: Heather Parker
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