Ariana Lee Parks, Piano

Ariana Lee Parks was born in Paradise, California but spent most of her growing up years in Salem, Oregon. She has loved music since she was born and started picking out tunes on the piano and singing harmonies with her brother when she was three years old. She began taking piano lessons that same year. Throughout her middle school and high school years she studied with the late Pamela Miller, who had a huge impact on her life. Over the years she has won multiple awards and competitions including being selected for the state recital 11 times in the Oregon State Junior Bach Festival and getting the chance to perform with the Salem orchestra. After high school she began her piano performance degree at Walla Walla University in Walla Walla, WA, but had to take a couple of years off due to a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease that left her bed-ridden. After receiving treatment in 2017, she transferred to Washington Adventist University and returned to her studies that fall. She is currently a senior pursuing a Piano Performance degree under the instruction of Dr. Mark Di Pinto. She recently had the opportunity to tour and perform the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto with the New England Youth Ensemble in the fall of 2018. Ariana plans to continue on to get her masters degree and eventually her doctorate with an ultimate goal of inspiring the next generation of musicians and pianists.