JANE PARKER-SMITH is one of the world's leading concert organists, acclaimed by the critics and public alike for her musicianship, virtuosity, and interpretative ability. Her studies at the Royal College of Music in London were crowned with a number of prizes and scholarships, including the Walford Davies Prize for organ performance. After a further period of work with the concert organist Nicolas Kynaston, a French government scholarship enabled her to complete her studies in Paris with the legendary organist Jean Langlais, perfecting the knowledge and understanding of 20th-century French organ music for which she is today internationally renowned.

She made her London debut at Westminster Cathedral at the age of 20, and two years later made her first solo appearance at the BBC Promenade Concerts in the Royal Albert Hall. She has since performed in concert halls throughout the world. Her Royal Festival Hall debut was in 1975 when she deputized at very short notice for the indisposed Fernando Germani. The success of this recital resulted in her being invited to perform regularly in the International Organ Series.

She has recorded a wide range of solo repertoire for RCA, Classics for Pleasure, L'Oiseau-Lyre, EMI, ASV, Collins Classics, Motette, AVIE, and most recently for the Dutch label Festivo. In addition, she has collaborated with the renowned Maurice André in a duo recording of music for trumpet and organ. She has performed numerous times on radio and television with special feature programs on the BBC, German, and Swiss television.

Highlights in her concert career have been performances in major venues and international festivals such as Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall (including the BBC Promenade Concerts and other solo and concerto performances), Three Choirs Festival, City of London Festival, Bath Festival, and Blenheim Palace (Winston Churchill Memorial Concert) in the UK; Jyväskylä Festival, Finland; Stockholm Concert Hall; Hong Kong Arts Festival; Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto; Festival Paris Quartier D'Été; Festival Cicio El Organo en la Iglesia, Buenos Aires; Festival Internationale di Musica Organistica Magadino, Switzerland; Cube Concert Hall, Shiroishi, Japan; Athens Organ Festival; Severance Hall, Cleveland; Sejong Cultural Centre, Seoul; Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore; and Symphony Hall, Birmingham, UK. In 1996 she gave four solo concerts at the American Guild of Organists National Centennial Convention in New York City, and in 2002 she was a featured artist for the AGO National Convention in Philadelphia, where she played two recitals at Girard College.

Jane Parker-Smith's extensive concerto repertoire has brought her performances with many leading orchestras, including the BBC Symphony and the BBC Concert Orchestra, the London Symphony, the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the City of Birmingham Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, the Athens State Orchestra, and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Simon Rattle, Serge Baudo, Carl Davis, Vernon Handley, Matthias Bamert, and Richard Hickox.

Parker-Smith is an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Musicians and Singers and an Honorary Fellow of the North and Midlands School of Music.

10/06