October 18, 2021
Steven Parker, a 2012 UT graduate (DMA in Trombone Performance), received a 2021 Rome Prize. The prestigious prize included a stipend, workspace, and room and board for four to seven months at Rome’s academy’s campus. Parker’s stated plans for the residency that he completed earlier this year: “In Rome, I will design a series of novel instruments and sound suits to be used in a new form of participatory opera. Merging influence from the Italian Futurists, World War II surveillance tools, commedia dell’arte, and Marconi’s early radar experiments, I will create wearable listening devices, sonic headdresses, and intuitive graphic scores. In the end, these items will be used to create a ritual performance that employs audience members as operatic performers to examine the history of listening in conflict.”
Parker is a member of the faculty at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he directs the trombone studio, Trombone Choir, and New Music Ensemble, and teaches courses in electronic music, sound art, new media, and music business. He also serves as curator of SoundSpace, an innovative music series at the Blanton Museum of Art, serves as Executive Director of Collide Arts and is in constant demand as a soloist worldwide.