Harlan D. Parker, Ph.D.

Conductor, Peabody Wind Ensemble; Coordinator, Music Education; Coordinator, Information Technology.

Harlan Parker is in his seventeenth year as the conductor of The Peabody Wind Ensemble and Coordinator of the Music Education Division at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of The Johns Hopkins University. Under his direction, the Peabody Wind Ensemble has given over 20 world premieres (including this season) and has performed at State, Regional and National Conventions. Considered "one of the finest ensembles of its kind in the nation," the Peabody Wind Ensemble has received critical acclaim from contemporary composers such as David Amram, James Syler, Eric Ewazen, Stella Sung and Johan de Meij.

Their debut CD, From an Antique Land, has been praised as one of the most exciting wind ensemble recordings in recent times and the second CD, Orff, Bird and Reed, was released the summer of 2002.  This CD was re-released in August 2006 on the Naxos label. Of the performance of La Fiesta Mexicana on the second CD, composer H. Owen Reed, in a letter to Dr. Parker writes, "I have just listened, twice, to your brilliant recording of my La Fiesta Mexicana, and I must tell you that it was a thrill to hear my music performed exactly as I always hoped for. Your total understanding of the work showed up on all parameters. Your tempos were on the mark, and the overall conception of the work was superb." The Peabody Wind Ensemble is also featured on the Amstel Music label with the premiere recording of Johan de Meij's Venetian Collection, which is available in this country through The-Sheet-Music-Store.com. The recording of the critically acclaimed premiere performance of Symphony No. 2, The Lion of Panjshir, by David Gaines is also avaliable through Verda Stelo. Of the performance, Sebastian Junger writes, "I cannot imagine a more powerful mix of words, images, and music than The Lion of Panjshir. People who know nothing of Massoud or Afghanistan will be stunned by the sheer power of the composition, and people who are familiar with these topics will be reduced to tears. It is a tremendous piece of work."

As well as his duties at Peabody, Dr. Parker has a very active musical life outside of the Conservatory. He is a Past-President of The Conductors Guild, an international service organization dedicated to encouraging and promoting the highest standards in the art and profession of conducting. Dr. Parker is also a member The American Bandmasters Association, an organization whose membership is by invitation and recognizes "outstanding achievement in the field of the concert band and its music."  Additionally, he is active regionally, nationally and internationally as a guest conductor, conducting pedagogue, clinician and adjudicator, having worked with professional musicians and students from all 50 states and over 35 countries.

In his first year as a faculty member at Peabody, Dr. Parker reorganized the Peabody Wind Ensemble in its present format after several years of non-existence and was awarded the Peabody Student Council Faculty/Administration Award for outstanding contributions to the Peabody Community. In the fall of 2000, Dr. Parker accepted the first graduate class of Wind Conducting students.  Graduates and students of the program are teachers/conductors in high schools and colleges and conductors of military bands.  He also serves as the Coordinator of Information Technology at the Peabody Conservatory. Dr. Parker received his Bachelor of Music from Emporia State University and his Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education with an emphasis in Conducting from the University of Kansas and has completed post-doctoral work at the Laban/Bartenineff Institute of Movement Studies in New York.

Click here to go to the Peabody Wind Ensemble site.

Click here to go to the Peabody Music Education site.

Click here to go to the Wind Conducting site.