Faculty Bio: Parker Callister

Parker Callister is a composer, guitarist, and music technologist from Ithaca, NY.

His music draws influence from electronic and noise music while also operating in a contemporary music idiom. Compositional interests include close-mic amplification, creating machines within ensembles, physicality of musical gesture, and the tactility of sound. He has had his music performed by notable artists such as Alarm Will Sound, the Empyrean Ensemble, Duo Moitié, the Unheard//Of Ensemble, the Ithaca New Music Ensemble, OSSIA New Music, line upon line percussion, the Eastman Graduate Composers Sinfonietta, Yarn/Wire, members of the Slee Sinfonietta, ECCE Ensemble, and ASKO/Schoenberg. 

With degrees in composition from the Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College, and the Peabody Institute, his primary mentors have included Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Michael Hersch, Evis Sammoutis, Du Yun, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, Robert Morris, and Jorge Grossmann. Parker has received commissions from the Baltimore Integrated Arts Society, line upon line percussion, OSSIA New Music, the Music Educators of Lansing, NY, and choreographers Laurie MacFarlane and Ruben Ornelas. Around the United States, Europe, and Asia, his work has been featured at several festivals and workshops, including the Mizzou International Composer Festival, the Penn State New Music Festival, the UC Davis Taproot New Music Festival, the Toolbox International Creative Academy, Creative Dialogues XIII, line upon line’s Winter Composers’ Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, among many others. 

Parker received his PhD in Music Composition from the Eastman School of Music in May of 2024. He has taught at Ithaca College, SUNY Oneonta, and is currently an adjunct instructor of music composition at SUNY Onondaga Community College.