Charlotte Symphony welcomes student

When senior music major John Parker applied to audition for the role of principal trumpet of the Charlotte Symphony, he was denied on the grounds that he wasn’t an experienced enough player.

But after the symphony was petitioned by Tim Hudson, Parker’s private teacher of nine years who was also auditioning for the job, the audition committee allowed Parker to compete for the position.

After four intense rounds against some of the best trumpet players in the country, Parker, who is 21 and a Kenan Music Scholar, was ultimately awarded the position and plans to join the symphony in January as one of its youngest players.

“Everyone is quite a bit older than I am, but they’ll still be expecting me to lead the section. It’s quite an intimidating thing, but I’ll be up to the challenge.”

Parker said the auditions were fairly demanding, and that he was proud just to make it past the first round.

“It went from about 100 people in the prelims to 12 in the semifinals, so just to make it that far I was pretty excited.

“So it was a long day, that Monday.”

Jim Ketch, who teaches trumpet at UNC, spoke highly of Parker’s willpower, in addition to his trumpet playing.

“John is quite thorough, and I think that’s one of his great gifts,” he said. “I’ve never had a more disciplined trumpet student.”

Hudson, who teaches trumpet at Gardner-Webb University, recalls giving Parker his first lessons in the sixth grade.

“After the first few months of lessons I remember telling him that if he played everything I assigned him, he would become a great trumpet player. Sure enough, he would come each week prepared, so there you go,” Hudson said.

Ketch said Parker, even right after winning the position, still came into lessons with plenty of things he wanted to work on.

“When we had our lesson three days after he won the audition, I said, ‘Well, things feel a little different today.’ And John immediately brought up four or five goals that he had,” Ketch said.

“He didn’t celebrate for very long. He enjoyed the moment, and was already very quickly getting back to work and starting to think of what he’s going to need to be ready for the season.”

Hudson believes Parker will definitely move on to greater positions in his future career.

“I believe wholeheartedly that he’s going to be in Charlotte for a brief time, and move on to a much bigger orchestra, a much more prestigious position,” Hudson said. “Seeing him win was definitely one of the most enjoyable days of my career.”

arts@dailytarheel.com