College of Arts and Sciences

Program in Music

Sylvia Parker

Senior Lecturer Emerita, piano

Sylvia Parker served as Senior Lecturer of Music at the University of Vermont, where she taught piano and music theory.

Parker performed frequently as piano soloist and ensemble player in Vermont, nationally and internationally. She has played numerous recitals and concertos of traditional repertory, and enjoyed a special interest in music of the twentieth century and beyond. She performed new works by American composers in this country and abroad. She accompanied faculty and student concerts at UVM and has served as official accompanist for Music Teachers National Association competitions.

She presented papers, master classes, and lecture-recitals on a variety of topics, especially those relating music theory and performance and cross-cultural aspects in classical music. Venues included national and international conferences in sites including Costa Rica, Spain, Thailand, Korea, Sweden, Australia, meetings of New England music teachers associations, nearby colleges and universities, town history gatherings, and local radio and television.

Ms. Parker in the news:

Sylvia Parker was recognized as Senior Lecturer Emerita upon her retirement on June 1, 2020.

9/9/2015: Shining new light on Bartók: the story behind Sylvia Parker's ambitious pursuit.
5/12/2015: Sylvia Parker's Béla Bartók: Peasant Jewels CD review: Seven Days (online), Seven Days (pdf) and Times Argus

Research and/or Creative Works

“Percy Grainger and Béla Bartók: Parallel Lives of Two Ethnomusicologists” (CMS Australia 2017). “The Swedish Nightingale and the Prince of Humbug” (CMS Sweden 2015). “Béla Bartók: Peasant Jewels” (MTNA Quad-State 2015). “Béla Bartók’s Other Microcosmos” (CMS Argentina 2013).

Publications

Parker's CD entitled “Béla Bartók: Peasant Jewels” (2014) includes Bartók’s complete solo piano settings of authentic folk melodies. Her earlier CD entitled “Bartók, Griffes, Mozart and D. Scarlatti” (2006) features solo piano music as well. Both are published by Centaur Records. Her journal publications include “Jenny Lind and P.T. Barnum: A Success Story of Music, Business and Philanthropy” in College Music Symposium (2019), “Béla Bartók’s Other Microcosmos” in MTNA e-Journal (September 2014), “Claude Debussy’s Gamelan” in College Music Symposium (2013), "A Riverton Retreat: Royal Charter to State Forest" in Vermont History (Winter/Spring 2010), “Béla Bartók's Arab Music Research and Composition” in Studia Musicologica (2008), “Understanding Sonata Form through Model Composition,” in Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy (2006), and “Bartók at the Crossroads: A Classical Sonatina from Five Rumanian Folk Dances,” in College Music Symposium (2003).

Associations and Affiliations

She has served as adjudicator for Vermont Music Teachers Association, Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra, Bay State (MA), Granite State (NH) and National Guild of Piano Teachers auditions. She was a member of College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association, Vermont Music Teachers Association, National Guild of Piano Teachers, New England Conference of Music Theorists, and Society for Music Theory.