New West Symphony to open 2006-07 Masterpiece Series

Jon Kimura Parker

The New West Symphony will open its 2006-07 Masterpiece Series season with a program that includes Leonard Bernstein's Overture to "West Side Story," Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Concerto in B-flat Minor for Piano and Orchestra, Opus 23 and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Opus 67.

New West Symphony music director Boris Brott will conduct three performances of the program with pianist Jon Kimura Parker as guest soloist. The program includes a performance at 8 p.m. Sat., Sept. 16 at the Countrywide Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

Kimura Parker is making his second appearance as a guest soloist with the New West Symphony for these performances. His last appearance with the Symphony was in May of 2005.

Since winning Great Britain's Leeds International Piano Competition in 1984, Parker has become one of the most sought-after artists in his native Canada, as well as throughout Europe, the United States and the Far East.