JPAS to Welcome Pianist Peter Collins in Free Recital, 6/28

Peter Collins, pianist, will perform a recital, presented by Jefferson Performing Arts Society at St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church on Sunday, June 28, 2016 at 3:00 pm, featuring works by Mozart, Debussy and Chopin. Admission is free!

"I have had the honor and pleasure of working with Peter Collins as piano concerto soloist with our orchestra many years ago," said JPAS co-founder, executive, artistic director Dennis G. Assaf. "And of course, he and my wife Nancy have collaborated on everyhting from recitals to recordings of ancient to contemporary music for piano, orchestra and voice. He is a rare and gifted artist, a fiery performer and a passionate teacher. A native New Orleanian, Peter comes home each summer to enrich his city with a free piano recital. I urge you to treat yourselves to an unforgettable afternoon of splendid music making."

Peter Collins is Professor of Music-Piano and Coordinator of the Keyboard Area at Missouri State University. A native of New Orleans, he began his formal piano studies with Melvin Alford. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory under the instruction of Lillian Freundlich. After winning awards in several piano competitions (the Washington International Piano Competition, the University of Maryland International Piano Competition, the American Chopin Competition, the American Beethoven Foundation) he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Michigan as a student of Louis Nagel. He has served on the faculties of the Interlochen Arts Academy, the Missouri Fine Arts Academy and the Bösendorfer International Piano Academy in Vienna.

Collins has performed a wide variety of repertoire ranging from the complete piano sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart to recently composed works. At Missouri State University, he originated the Missouri Chamber Players and toured Scandinavia three times with members of the ensemble in concerts of music by American composers. His important European appearances also include solo performances at the Chopin Academy of Music (Warsaw) and the Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest). As a concerto soloist he has collaborated with the Polish State Orchestra (Jelenia Góra), the Florida State Orchestra, the New Orleans Symphony, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, the Springfield Symphony and the Chamber Orchestra of the Ozarks. Peter Collins has completed nine compact-disc recording projects (for the Albany, MSR and Centaur labels) featuring works of living American composers, music by women composers, original arrangements and transcriptions and piano music of nineteenth-century New Orleans.

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