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Biographie

On any given day, you might find Vince Peterson directing a choir of professional singers, students, church or community volunteers, children or the like.  He may do it from behind a piano while comping crunchy jazz chords on a Duke Ellington tune or behind a newly restored pre-aeolian Skinner pipe organ while accompanying a performance of Brahms’ “Geistliches Lied”.  It might be the Hammond B3 accompaniment to a gospel choir singing Mahlia Jackson’s “Lord, Don’t Move This Mountain” or perhaps he’s standing on the conductor's podium conducting the Fauré Requiem with full orchestra and symphonic chorus.  Then again, he might not be directing a chorus at all.  He might be accompanying one, or composing for one.  Or, he might be standing in front of a class of 50 non-majors teaching them about why studying music is relevant.  You could also find him at home, teaching his private students in composition, conducting and ear training.  You might find him playing keyboards and singing vocals on his own songs with a band in an art gallery or giving a solo acoustic concert in a dark cabaret bar.  He might simply be sitting in the audience listening.  In any case, you can be sure that what The Brooklyn Eagle called “a stunning symphony of the spiritual and secular” is exactly what you’ll see and hear in Vince, no matter what musical activity he happens to be engaged in at that particular moment.

Born in San Francisco to hard-working middle class parents, Vince’s musical upbringing was not exactly what you would call “the usual”.  At age 6, he took up the piano.  At age 11, he took up the pipe organ and began composing.  At age 14, he became the music director of his parish.  At age 15, he played the organ in the Vatican and sang at an audience for Pope John Paul II.  At age 19, he became the organist in an African-American Baptist church.  At age 20, he became a high school teacher.  At age 23, after completing his BMus in composition from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he took up summer studies in Paris with several successors of the late Nadia Boulanger, receiving a certificate of high mention in counterpoint, harmony and score reading.  At age 26, he completed two master’s degrees in composition and choral conducting at Mannes College of Music in New York City and was the sole winner of the prestigious Music Teacher’s League Award at his graduation.  At age 27, he founded Choral Chameleon, a mainstream NYC-based chamber choir.  At age 28, he became a college professor.    He’s had the pleasure of studying and collaborating with some of the music world’s most celebrated figures including Conrad Susa, David Conte, Philip Lasser, Mark Shapiro, David Loeb, Robert Cuckson, Carl Schachter, Joseph Jennings, and Vance George, among many others.

Vince Peterson’s work has been profiled in The New York Times, The Brooklyn Eagle and The San Francisco Classical Voice, among other reputable publications.  The New York Concert Review described his performance as having "forward thrust and an expressive musical profile".  In addition, he has been praised as a singer / songwriter who "performed with depth and vigor", "providing a universal context that resonated with his audience".  He is sought after as composer, conductor and clinician.  Commissions of his compositions include those from  Cantori New York, The Monmouth Civic Chorus, The DeLaSalle Institute (Napa, CA), Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory (his alma mater), The San Francisco Arts Education Project, where he is also a member of the Artistic Advisory Board and the multi-Grammy® award-winning ensemble, Chanticleer.  His recent work "Cells Planets" is a top-seller for Hinshaw Music Publishers and has received over 36,000 YouTube views to date.  His collaboration with MAC®-award winner, Cait Doyle on her hit show Hot Mess In Manhattan was called "Hilarious musical perfection" by Paul Schaffer.  

His universal musical philosophy seeks to dissipate all musical elitism and bridge unnecessary gaps between genres of music and generations of its listeners.