Brian Parks is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists and makes his living as Organist and Associate Director of Music at Marietta First United Methodist Church. He regularly presents his algorithmic compositions in Germany, with recent solo and ensemble concerts at Dreischeibenhaus (Düsseldorf, June 2021) and at the Ambient Festival (Köln, September 2021), the latter as part of the Basilica of the Apostles’ 1000th anniversary. In 2019, he recorded an album of solo and duet compositions with German media artist Phillip Schulze at ecclesial and academic sites in and around Düsseldorf. That album, Tastaturstücke Vol. 1, was released in May 2020 on the TAL Music label and is available through the TAL website: talmusic.com, by clicking here, or may be purchased in person at Sweet Melissa Records in the Marietta Square. In January 2021, he premiered his organ transcription of John Williams’s Superman Suite at the (Episcopal) Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta. Other fun recent performance experiences include a full length organ concert at Grace Episcopal Church in Gainesville; and two performances of “Rhapsody in Blue” with the Atlanta Concert Band at Temple Emanuel in Dunwoody, Georgia and at Marietta First United Methodist Church with a grand piano moved outside for the occasion. In October 2023, he served as guest clinician for a two-day “Other Keyboards” workshop for the Atlanta Area Suzuki Piano Association, teaching 28 children and 6 teachers on harpsichords by Tom Pixton and Adam Decker, and the Glatter-Götz Op. 39 pipe organ at Marietta First UMC. His peer-reviewed article “Why do the white keys sound the way they do?” has remained in the Top 1% of viewed articles on academia.edu for over two years.

That pipe organ, now nearing completion, will be celebrated with a consecration on November 5th 2023, as well as with four solo concerts. Brian will play the inaugural concert in February 2024, followed by performances by Alcee Chriss III, Ronald Ebrecht, and Dr. Nicole Marane. You can read about it here.
At Marietta First, he runs the training for the church’s Voice for Life program, the central curriculum of the Royal School of Church Music. In addition, he directs the Carol Choir (1st-2nd grades), the Genesis Handbell Ringers, and is assistant director and organist for the Chapel Choir (6th-12th grade). Previously, he served UCC churches in Connecticut as Director of Music/Organist.

Brian has taught music performance in schools (Montessori School of Greater Hartford, Paideia School), music history, theory, Ghanaian drumming, and harpsichord in colleges (Naugatuck Valley Community College, Wesleyan University), and maintains a studio of organ/harpsichord and composition students. He has given scholarly papers and demonstrations at Oxford University, Emory University, Conservatoire de Lille, the 2014 American Guild of Organists National Convention, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and IRCAM, and has served on panels at the Northeast Chapter of SEM and the La Leche League Conference of Connecticut. He has given organ concerts in France, Germany (2011, 2018, 2019), and at festivals in the United States, and has served as organist for Christian and Jewish liturgies in churches and synagogues throughout the states, spanning eight denominations. He is co-director of Quadratum, an auditioned early music and experimental choral group begun in 2012 focusing on unaccompanied vocal music of the 15th, 16th, and 21st centuries, and Ghanaian drumming and singing. He can be heard playing virginal on Weisser Westen’s self-titled album (2013, Apparent Extent), Michael Winter’s Lower Limit (2017, New World Records), and on The Uncertainty Music Series 2007-2017 compilation album.