Anthony R. Parnther

Hailed by the Huffington Post as “the ultimate in tonal purity” and praised by the L.A. Times for his “effortless phrasing”, Anthony Parnther is a multi-instrumentalist who is equally committed to classical tradition as he is to the avant-garde. In addition to his busy schedule on the bassoon and contrabassoon, Anthony performs on period instruments from the renaissance, baroque and classical era as well as specializing on some not-so-common woodwind instruments like the sarrusophone and the Heckelphone. It is not uncommon to see Anthony wielding a baritone saxophone, a contrabass clarinet, or any array of gigantic woodwind instruments at a Hollywood scoring session.

As bassoonist, contrabassoonist, and woodwind doubler in the Hollywood Studio Symphony, Anthony has recorded on an extensive list of soundtracks for composers including Michael Barry, Jon Brion, Bruce Broughton, Joseph Bishara, Mychael Danna, John Debney, Danny Elfman, Gordy Haab, Mark Isham, Michael Giacchino, Abel Korzeniowski, Bear McCreary, Mark Mothersbaugh, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, David Newman, Michael Patti, John Powell, John Ottman, Jeff Russo, Theodore Shapiro, Alan Silvestri, Pinar Toprak, Joe Trapanese, Rich Vreeland, Austin Wintory, Christopher Young, Adrian Younge, Hans Zimmer, and Inon Zur.

Anthony’s bassoon can be heard prominently on Netflix’s The Kominsky Method (music composed by Jeff Cardoni) and Spike Lee’s the Black KKKlansman. Some of his favorite recent scores he’s performed on include Star Wars : Rogue One, The Good Dinosaur, Lego Movie 2, Goosebumps, Moana, Ferdinand, The Storks, X Men: Apocalypse, The Conjuring 1 and 2, The Orville, Star Trek Beyond, The Nun, Ghostbusters, Once Upon a Time, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, She’s Gotta Have It, Luke Cage, League of Legends, Spiderman, Planet of the Apes, and Lady Bird.

In the live realm, Anthony has performed with most of Southern California’s professional entities, including the Los Angeles Opera, San Diego Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale, MUSE/ique, Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Video Games Live, Opera Santa Barbara, California Chamber Orchestra, West Los Angeles Symphony, Orchestra Santa Monica, Redlands Symphony, San Bernardino Symphony, Los Angeles Ballet, and Musica Angelica, a group committed to historically informed performances on period instruments.

He has served as principal bassoon in the Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, Jacaranda: Music on the Edge, Here/Now Music Festival, Contemporary Performance Collective (CPC), Long Beach Opera, Golden State Pops Orchestra, the Echo Society, BMI Conductor’s Workshop, and the McCallum Concert Band. He has participated in the premiere of over 100 contemporary works including those by Peter Eotvos, Sharon Farber, Zeltia Montes, Carter Pann, Dave Volpe, Dante da Silva, and Jeremy Rubolino.

Anthony’s extensive discography includes recordings and live performances with many luminaries in numerous genres including Jennifer Hudson, Rihanna, Jackie Evancho, Beyonce, Kanye West, Hanson, Snoop Dogg, The Eels, Madonna, Kid Cudi, Il Volo, Michael Bolton, Pete Townsend, Billy Idol, Evanescence, Vanessa Williams, Maynard Ferguson, Wynton Marsalis, Erick Morillo, Doc Severinson, and Stevie Wonder. He has appeared on the American Music Awards, the BET Awards, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Ellen DeGeneres Show, the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Video Games Live, and the Video Game Awards.

He began bassoon lessons with a post office worker named Julia Miller and went on to train with Robert Barris, Willard Elliot and Burl Lane. In addition, he studied repertoire and doubling with Tristan Willems and baroque bassoon and performance practice with Charles Koster.