This Week at MA The Rise of Parnther

Anthony Parnther makes his Academy debut conducting the Academy Festival Orchestra this Saturday, July 8 (photo by Tom Pease)

by Steven Libowitz

Anthony Parnther never picked up a musical instrument until eighth grade, and even then, only because he discovered it could be an avenue to free admission at a Virginia amusement park.

“I was sitting in math class and I heard the announcement over the intercom that the students who were part of the middle school band were to report to the bus for their trip to Kings Dominion, the big theme park that was about 90 miles away,” he recalled. “Three-quarters of the class excitedly grabbed all these strange-shaped cases with musical instruments inside and bounded out the door, leaving me behind. I desperately, desperately, desperately wanted to go. And I thought I’ve got to get in on this gig.”

Without knowing much about musical instruments, he searched alphabetically in a dictionary, passing on the accordion as “far too nerdy” because his parents used to watch the Lawrence Welk show. “I wanted a much cooler instrument, one that would earn the respect and esteem of my peers. When I saw the bassoon, I thought, oh, yeah, this is my ticket right here.”

It was only a year later that the budding bassoonist found himself drawn to another role, that of: “The guy not making any sound but waving a wand around while everyone else plays” – aka the conductor.

“I think I was probably attracted to both the mystery of conducting and, quite frankly, the authority,” recalled Parnther, for whom even the seven-dollar cost of a new bassoon reed, let alone admission to an amusement park, was a big expense back then.

Fast forward a few decades, and Parnther is now enjoying a fine and still rising career in music as both a performer and conductor, one who is equally at ease directing some of the world’s leading orchestras on new works and chestnuts of the classic canon, while also conducting and/or playing contrabassoon on Hollywood film and TV scores. He’s led hundreds of Hollywood recording sessions, including for some of the biggest films of recent years ( Tenet , Encanto , Turning Red , Black Panther: Wakanda Forever , Nope ) and played and/or sang on many others. He serves as music director and conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra, the Southeast Symphony & Chorus in Los Angeles, and the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, the latter composed entirely of professional classical musicians of African descent. Then there’s the dozens of guest conducting slots at major orchestras around the country, and his work in other genres where he’s conducted and/or played on recordings or concerts with Beyoncé , Jennifer Hudson , Rihanna , Kanye West , Madonna , and Elton John , among many others.

“I am performing or conducting nearly every day of life, usually both,” Parnther said. “Every day is packed, and I don’t take vacations.”

This week, Parnther turns his focused attention to Montecito’s summer music scene, where he’ll conduct the Academy Festival Orchestra for Saturday’s concert at Hahn Hall. The ensemble, compacted to chamber size as many of the instrumentalists are in the opera orchestra, will take on the carefully curated program that opens with the Overture from Carl Maria von Weber’s romantic opera Euryanthe, followed by “An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave,” a lyrical, sorrowful yet ultimately hopeful 2015 piece that composer Carlos Simon calls “an artistic reflection dedicated to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power; namely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown.” The AFO then performs “ Psycho : A Narrative for String Orchestra,” a 1968 creation in which Bernard Herrmann reworked themes from his score for the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller including the shrieking violin bolts from the famous shower scene, before closing with Shostakovich’s “Ninth Symphony,”

Week at MA Page 104