C. S. L. Parker was born in England and moved to Ireland in 1982. He began his composition studies with Oliver Knussen and continued at the Royal College of Music in London with John Lambert. His association with Sir Peter Maxwell Davis began in 1978 and continued with numerous rehearsals with 'The Fires of London'. He also attended the Wavendon Jazz courses, Milton Keynes, studying with Michael Garrick, John Taylor and composer Neil Ardley.
His output includes solo piano, chamber, vocal and orchestral works. Recent compositions include ‘Twelve Songs for Seraphim’ (2003-2004) which was premiered at St. Finbarr’s Cathedral, Cork in April 2004; ‘Twenty Four Songs’ which was premiered at the Cork Opera House in October 2005 and a work commissioned by the Cork City Council and Cork Opera Works for the Year of Culture, ‘Ships and Waltzes’ (2005).
He has recorded and performed with many artists including Keith Pascoe, Joze Kotar, Luca Ferrini, Antonin Hradil, Jiri Mikula and Toshiuki Shimada. He has also worked as an arranger on albums by Mick Flannery, Warwick Embury, Barry Tierney, John Martyn, Caroline Moreau, Ronan Murphy, myp et jeep, Phil Collins, Crow Black Chicken, Hank Wedel, City Weezle, Zhora, Kristian Blak, Hugh Tinney, Vanbrugh String Quartet and Cappella Lyrica with conductor Maria Judge.
He also writes for film and works in this genre include music for the documentary drama, ‘Hold the Passion’, which was premiered in the National Concert Hall in April 2001. The film ‘Poker Nights’, for which he composed the score, won the Best International Director’s Award in the 2007 New York Film Festival: Pickleman Productions Queens 2017. Several of his orchestral works have been recorded on the Vienna Modern Masters label.
C. S. L. Parker is also active as a pianist and has performed throughout Ireland as well as in Israel, Egypt, India, China and Cuba. He holds a Masters Degree in Performance from the Cork Institute of Technology and currently teaches in the Cork School of Music.
The Orphic mysteries from the sixth century refer to Orpheus’ ability to charm all nature through music. I see my own work as the ability to perceive nature through music.