Everett Middle School, 450 Church St between 16 & 17th St, SF 94114 (Map)(Tickets)
Dawn Harms, Music Director & Conductor
Marko Bajzer - Codex
Weber - Clarinet Concerto No. 1
Brahms - Symphony No. 3
About Natalie Parker, Clarinet
A native of South Carolina, Natalie Parker is currently the principal clarinet of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. Ms Parker joined the Ballet Orchestra in January of 2012 and received her masters in music from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music the following May. Ms Parker has recently attended such music festivals as Brevard Music Center, the Madeline Island Chamber Music Camp and the Texas Music Festival. While in school, she actively participated in the Houston Da Camera Young Artist's Program and JUMP!, the community music outreach program at Rice University. In 2010, Ms Parker won second prize in the International Clarinet Association's Young Artist Competition and performed in recital at the Association's annual ClarinetFest. Since arriving in San Francisco, Ms Parker has played frequently with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and enjoys performing chamber music throughout the Bay area. She currently is on faculty at San Francisco State University.
About Marko Bajzer, composer
His music being praised as “a beauty,” and “enhancing the program,” (Music in Cincinnati) Marko Bajzer (b. 1989) is an emerging Croatian-American composer and performer hailing from Minnesota. Bajzer’s music often uncovers the beauty in simplicity and lies somewhere in the crossroads of post-minimalism and neoromanticism.
Bajzer has written for a variety of media, including wind ensemble, orchestra, chamber music, voice, and electronics. His works have been performed by such ensembles as the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble, the CCM Brass Choir, the CCM Chamber Players, San Francisco Choral Artists, Yerba Buena Brass Quintet, Splinter Reeds Quintet, the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, the Blue Lake Festival Band, and numerous pick-up chamber groups. Bajzer’s current projects include a commission for a piece for trumpet/flugelhorn and percussion, and a piece for orchestra and narrator entitled “I Read it on Reddit: a Gen-Y Symphony,” which draws inspiration from the popular, social news/entertainment website, reddit.com. His piece, “Zrikavac” was a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Competition, and “Wind Sextet,” was selected as a winner for the CCM SCI Recording Project. His primary teachers include Joel Hoffman, Dan Becker, Douglas Knehans, Ellen Harrison, Michael Fiday, and David Schneider.
Bajzer is also an active performer. His passion stems from sharing with the audience obscure works that are high in quality. He was the principal bassoonist of the Austin (MN) Symphony Orchestra and the Mayo Clinic Chamber Symphony Orchestra, the second bassoonist of the Blue Lake Festival Orchestra, and has performed in a variety of ensembles at the University of Cincinnati as well as the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. An active soloist, Bajzer was featured by the Rochester Chamber Music Society and the Mayo Clinic Chamber Symphony Orchestra. His primary teachers include William Winstead, John Miller, Martin James, and Jennifer Welch. Bajzer also performs on numerous other instruments, most notably the contrabassoon, with which he has performed extensively; the horn; with which he was the fourth hornist of the Blue Lake Festival Band; and the alto flute, with which he was the alto flutist of the Rochester Flute Choir.
Bajzer earned his bachelors degree (B.M.) from University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, where he majored in composition, bassoon performance, and music education. He is currently pursuing a masters degree (M.M.) in composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He presently resides in San Francisco with his plant, Alaric III. 
Part of BARS' LGBTQ Composer and Performing Artist Series, which strives to redefine perceptions of LGBTQ music and increase awareness of the beauty, talents, and accomplishments of fellow LGBTQ individuals and groups.