Anthony Parnther
Anthony Parnther is an American conductor, bassoonist, and educator, prominently known for his work conducting and playing on critically acclaimed film scores.
In 2019 he was appointed music director and conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra in San Bernardino, California and concurrently serves as the music director of the Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles, California, a position he has held since 2010.
Early life and family
Anthony Parnther was born in Norfolk, Virginia, to Samalauluoloitefu, an economist and professor, and George Parnther, an engineer.Around 1949, George Parnther emigrated to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and enlisted in the U.S. Navy before serving in the Korean War. George eventually matriculated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with degrees in engineering and mathematics. Samalaulu emigrated from Samoa in 1960 and studied economics at Columbia University. The Parnther family settled in Norfolk, Virginia in the late 1960s.
Anthony graduated from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he played the cello, bassoon, and tuba in the instrumental music department.
Education
Anthony received his Bachelor of Arts from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. He studied conducting at Yale University and music performance at Northwestern University.At Yale University, he studied conducting with Lawrence Leighton Smith.
Career
After a two-year international search, the San Bernardino Symphony appointed Anthony Parnther as their Music Director in May 2019.Parnther currently serves as conductor of the Southeast Symphony in Los Angeles, California.
Previously, he conducted the Orange County Symphony in Anaheim, California and the Inland Valley Symphony in Temecula, California.
He is a noted conductor, orchestrator, and bassoonist with the Hollywood Studio Symphony for television, motion pictures, and video games.
Guest conducting
Anthony has appeared with many of the leading orchestras in North America, including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Houston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and the Buffalo Philharmonic.In 2018, Parnther conducted Chineke! following the 30-month refurbishment of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and again in September 2023 at the BBC Proms.
Film scores
Parnther is a prolific conductor of scoring sessions for motion picture, television, album, and video game scores with the Hollywood Studio Symphony.He has led the recording sessions for such projects as Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Encanto, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Nope, League of Legends, Creed III, Devotion, Tenet, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, American Dad, Arcane, The Adam Project, Slumberland, The Way Back, Cheaper By The Dozen, Lost City, Little, The Hunt, Turning Red, Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Fargo, The Night Of, 4400, The Lamplighters League, Guild Wars, Oppenheimer, and many more.