Vince Peterson
The emerging conductor and composer Vince Peterson has been acclaimed as “youthful and energetic” and is said to bring his “creativity and energy to the community, uniting both into a stunning symphony of the spiritual and secular”. He holds a BM in Composition from The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied with celebrated composer, Conrad Susa as well as the likes of David Conte, Eleanor Armer and Sonja Neblett. In 2005, he moved to New York City where he received a double MM in Composition and Choral Conducting from Mannes College The New School for Music, studying conducting with Dr. Mark Shapiro and composition with David Loeb. In 2007, he was awarded a Music Teacher’s League Award for showing exemplary development and positive change as a musician during his time at Mannes. He has also completed courses in Composition and Conducting in Paris at La Schola Cantorum and the École Normale de Musique through EAMA (The European American Musical Alliance). There, he studied composition, counterpoint and harmony under Dr. Philip Lasser of The Juilliard School.
Vince has traveled abroad as singer, choral accompanist and conductor including performances in France, Canada, The Philippines, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, throughout the United States and in Italy where he played the organ for high mass in the Vatican and sang at an audience for Pope John Paul II. He served for two consecutive seasons as assistant conductor and principal accompanist for The Golden Gate Men's Chorus under the direction of two-time GRAMMY® award winning conductor, Joseph Jennings, a position Jennings appointed him to in the fall of 2003. In April of 2008, Vince was given the privilege of conducting at “The Gregg Smith Legacy”, a choral festival at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in NYC celebrating the 50+ years of achievements by The Gregg Smith Singers.
In addition to championing the works of many of his composer colleagues, Vince maintains his own catalogue of compositions, which includes settings of texts by Walt Whitman, James Joyce, Federico Garcia Lorca, Emily Keeler, Cooley Windsor and numerous sacred texts. He has written music for solo voice, orchestra, chorus and also many chamber music pieces including two string quartets, several song cycles, a clarinet trio and numerous others.
A musical chameleon of sorts, Vince is well respected for his contributions to both concert music and theater. He is comfortable working within many different genres of music. In theater music, Vince has conducted several notable performances such as the world premiere of “Between Dirt and Sky”, a new musical about the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez and the San Francisco premiere of Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years”. Additional theatrical music directing credits include The Pajama Game, Into the Woods (Regional), Little Shop of Horrors, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, Once On This Island and The Wiz to name a few. He currently music directs for the rising cabaret artist, Cait Doyle in her new show “Hot Mess In Manhattan” which plays monthly sold out engagements at the legendary piano bar “Don’t Tell Mama” on 46th Street as well as The Duplex in the west village.
Vince Peterson is the founding director of Choral Chameleon, a new professional chamber choir based in New York City (www.choralchameleon.com). In addition, he serves as music director for Charis Chamber Voices, Union Church of Bay Ridge and The Loyola School.