GERSHWIN’S GREATEST

OCTOBER 17, 2026 @ 7:30 PM

POTTER CENTER

Enjoy an evening of powerful and expressive music. Bennett’s Four Freedoms opens the program with music inspired by Norman Rockwell’s paintings. Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess: Symphonic Picture follows, drawing from the iconic opera’s most memorable themes. Pépin’s Feu d’artifice adds a fresh, vibrant voice to the program, and the concert ends with Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, featuring acclaimed pianist Jon Kimura Parker.

PRE-CONCERT CONVERSATION
Join us for a free, interactive talk before the concert at 6:30pm.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Single Tickets on Sale September 1, 2026

PROGRAM SCHEDULE

Robert Russell Bennett
Four Freedoms <1943>

George Gershwin
Porgy and Bess: Symphonic Picture <1935>

INTERMISSION

Camille Pépin
Feu d’artifice (Fireworks) <2025>

George Gershwin
Piano Concerto in F Major <1925>

RUNTIME: 2H

AFTERPARTY

Location: TBD

Keep the celebration going after the baton is down and the instruments are put away. Taking place in various locations around Jackson following Saturday evening concerts, these events are a great opportunity to mingle with musicians, guest artists, composers, other symphony fans, and of course, the Maestro. All are welcome at this event and the $20 ticket buys you entry, hors d’oeuvres, and drinks.

GUEST ARTIST

Jon Kimura Parker
Pianist

Pianist Jon Kimura Parker is known for his charisma, infectious enthusiasm, and dynamic performances that communicate the joy of musical expression. A veteran of the international concert stage, he has performed in the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, London’s South Bank, the Sydney Opera House, and the Beijing Concert Hall. He is Creative Partner for the Minnesota Orchestra’s Summer at Orchestra Hall, serves as the Artistic Director for the Honens International Piano Competition and Artistic Advisor for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and chairs the keyboard faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

In recent concert seasons, Jon Kimura Parker has been conducted by Karina Canellakis, Karen Kamensek, Mei-Ann Chen, Stephanie Childress, and Lina Gonzalez-Granados. A collaborator in a wide variety of styles, Jon Kimura Parker has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham and Lynn Harrell, and also with Doc Severinsen, Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin, Shayne Koyczan, and Dessa. He has toured as a founding member of the Montrose Trio, and in Off the Score with legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland, featuring his own arrangements of music by Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky.

Highlights of the 2025-26 season include performances with Chamber Music International, Chamber Music Tulsa, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Fresno Philharmonic, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, Pro Musica, the Richardson Symphony, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Willamette University’s Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series.

Jon Kimura Parker studied with Edward Parker and Keiko Parker, Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music and the University of British Columbia, Marek Jablonski at the Banff Centre, and Adele Marcus at The Juilliard School. After winning the Gold Medal at the 1984 Leeds International Piano Competition, Parker has gone on to become an Officer of the Order of Canada and to receive Honorary Doctorates from the University of British Columbia and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto.

Known to friends as “Jackie,” Parker is married to violinist/violist Aloysia Friedmann, and their daughter Sophie is an artist.

For further information, please visit www.jonkimuraparker.com.