After percussionist Parker Joy Fadoul’s second appearance with the National Symphony Orchestra, The Washington Post wrote she “knows how to evoke mystery in the dying fall of a phrase and let tension gather in the silences between them.”

Parker’s successful career as a performer, composer, and teacher has deep roots in both the concert and marching percussion community. Since 2003, she has performed in the groundbreaking duo, Lawler + Fadoul with flutist Zara Lawler. Hailed as “a great treat” (Classical WETA, Washington DC), the duo blends classical virtuosity with lively commentary and theatrical flair. Since 2009, the Kennedy Center's National Symphony Orchestra has hired the duo to develop and perform interdisciplinary shows combining music and theater for Washington D.C.-area students, both in-school and at the Kennedy Center. In 2013, Lawler + Fadoul released its debut album, Prelude Cocktail, which the music blog, I Care If You Listen called “collaborative artistry at its finest.” Since forming, Lawler + Fadoul have performed together in many of North America’s most prestigious concert series and venues, including the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, Trinity Wall Street, the Edmonton Recital Society, and McMaster University’s Celebrity Concert Series.

‘Parker is currently on faculty at The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College. A dedicated teacher and educator, Parker has also toured with the ensemble Tales & Scales, where she performed 200 shows annually for children and families, including solo performances with the Milwaukee, Buffalo, and Oregon symphonies. She has taught at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the George Mason University drumline. She was director and designer of the Chantilly High School Indoor Drumline which, under her leadership, became a two-time medalist at the WGI World Championships.

Parker is often looking for creative ways to incorporate music technology into her work. As co- artistic director of the Threshold Music Project, with international marimba soloist Nancy Zeltsman, she’s commissioned five composers including GRAMMY-winning composer Steven Mackey to write duos for marimba and MIDI controller. The purpose of the project, which is sponsored by Pearl/Adams Concert Percussion and is the first of its kind, is to create and perform chamber music repertoire for the acoustic marimba and this kind of digital instrument.

Since 2012, she’s spent her summers in Newfoundland as the percussionist and principal arranger for a variety of ensembles at the Gros Morne Summer Music festival. There, she played drum set for the Canadian artist, Yvette Lorraine, arranged the music for an 11-member band and performed a wide variety of world percussion instruments for a Paul Simon tribute.

Parker is also a founding member and principal composer/arranger of Dark by Five, the ensemble-in-residence at Canada’s Gros Morne Summer Music Festival in Newfoundland and Labrador. The ensemble expands the boundaries of musical performance by weaving classical, contemporary, and popular music with theater, poetry and visual media, while working with renowned artists such as the celebrated Canadian poet, Don McKay and guitarist Duane Andrews.

Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, Parker has a Bachelor of Music from George Mason University and a Master of Music from Yale University. Currently, she’s working toward a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where she studies with Robert van Sice.

In her spare time, Parker performs, records, and edits elaborate performance videos that range from multi-camera arrangements of large orchestral works to hip hop parodies of 8-bit video games.

Parker Fadoul proudly endorses Vic Firth sticks and mallets, Pearl/Adams drums and keyboards, and Evans Drumheads.