Pianist Parker Van Ostrand, a San Francisco Conservatory of Music student, appreciates how his teachers Garrick Ohlsson and Yoshikazu Nagai let him interpret and make decisions about the pieces he plays.
“Both of them have really given me that freedom, which I think is important because you have to be your own musician and come with your own ideas for things,” says Van Ostrand, a Sacramento native. “They’ve helped me come up with a lot of ideas as well as given me a lot of different ideas and possibilities.”
That freedom will be on high-profile display Sept. 11 in Davies Symphony Hall when Van Ostrand solos in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Opus 23, with the San Francisco Symphony and conductor Jaap van Zweden in the 2025 All San Francisco Concert. This year’s installment of the annual program, which recognizes local community service organizations, also features John Adams’ “Short Ride in a Fast Machine” and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.”
Van Ostrand, 22, has been studying with Ohlsson since he was 16, including private lessons when he went to Stanford University, about an hour away from Ohlsson’s home. He transferred to SFCM because he wanted to continue to learn from Ohlsson, a seasoned concert pianist.
“Especially with concertos that he’s played a lot, he’s able to give a lot of insight into how the piece should be performed and played with an orchestra, things to listen for, certain spots to look at the conductor, and what sounds good in the hall, like projecting. His experience has helped me a lot, as he’s played so much of the repertory, including basically everything that I’ve played.”
Though Van Ostrand and Ohlsson have recently been working on the Tchaikovsky piano concerto, Van Ostrand already has performed it, two years ago with Symphony Parnassus in San Francisco. That experience, in addition to endorsements from Ohlsson and Nagai, chair of SFCM’s Piano Department, were instrumental in landing him the solo in the All San Francisco Concert.
“I got an email asking if I would be available and interested in performing with the orchestra on this date,” he says of the opportunity to make his San Francisco Symphony debut. “And of course, I was like, yes!”
Van Ostrand says the Tchaikovsky concerto, with its beautifully romantic melodies that are easy on the ears, does pose a key challenge for the soloist.
“Because it’s played so much and is such a popular piece that’s so recognizable to audiences it’s necessary to have some kind of personal interpretation to try to bring something new and different to the piece,” he says.
Another possible challenge for Van Ostrand in performing the Tchaikovsky: He’ll be playing it the evening before superstar pianist Yuja Wang solos in the same composition at the San Francisco Symphony Opening Gala concert.
“I would say it’s a little nerve-racking because she’s an amazing performer, one of the best and one of my favorites,” he says. “She plays the piece really well, so it’s definitely like a ‘I-better-step-it-up’ kind of thing.”
Van Ostrand and Wang have crossed paths before. They performed parts of the arrangement for two pianos and four hands of Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, Opus 45, at SFCM’s Gala concert in November 2022.
“That was pretty cool and I played for her in a master class,” he recounts. “So now playing the same week as her is really cool just because of what we’ve done together in the past, too.”
Van Ostrand has thrived in competition, taking the Gold Medal in the 71st Wideman International Piano Competition in 2022 and winning the PianoTexas Academy Concerto Competition in 2023 as well as SFCM’s 2023 Concerto Competition. He has also enjoyed performing with the San Diego Symphony and Sacramento Philharmonic as well as Symphony Parnassus.
“I would definitely like to continue playing with orchestras — I really like playing concertos,” he says. “Continuing to play with orchestras like the San Francisco Symphony is my biggest goal for music.”
The San Francisco Symphony’s All San Francisco Concert is at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11 in Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave. San Francisco. Subsidized tickets ($12) for Bay Area nonprofits, social services and grassroots organizations are at (415) 864-6000 or sfsymphony.org.