Christopher Parkening

Christopher Parkening earned acclaim as a successor to the traditions established by Andres Segovia and stood among the foremost classical guitar virtuosos of his time. His extensive recorded output featured the soprano collaboration The Pleasures of Their Company with Kathleen Battle, the orchestral album Parkening Plays Vivaldi that presented Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un gentilhombre, and A Tribute to Segovia, captured on one of the Spanish master's personal concert guitars. He performed as guest soloist alongside leading American ensembles such as the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Minnesota Orchestras, the Chicago, Pittsburgh and National Symphony Orchestras, the Detroit, Houston and St. Louis Symphonies, plus the St. Paul and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras. In addition to writing the instructional text The Christopher Parkening Guitar Method, Volume I, a fundamental pedagogy volume, Parkening distinguished himself as a world-class fly-fishing and casting champion by capturing the International Gold Cup Tarpon Tournament, long regarded by enthusiasts as "the Wimbledon of fly-fishing."