Vince Peterson is a respected, award-winning choral conductor, composer/arranger, and teacher of music in the United States. He has established himself most prominently in the world of choral music, notably having founded the “shape-shifting” vocal ensemble Choral Chameleon in 2008. Through his work with this ensemble and others, he has influenced widespread change in common practices of choral music concert programming and interdisciplinary work. An undisputed champion of new music and an empathetic composer himself, Dr. Peterson is responsible for presenting nearly 300 premieres of new choral and theater music in the last 15 years and has won critical acclaim in Gramophone Magazine, The New York Times, Time Out New York, The New York Concert Review, I Care If You Listen, The Examiner, The San Francisco Chronicle, and other reputable publications. He is also a recipient of the prestigious ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming.
In addition to his work with Choral Chameleon, Dr. Peterson has been the proud Artistic Director of Empire City Men’s Chorus since 2014 and led the ensemble through its 25th Anniversary Season.
As composer and arranger, Peterson has received seven commissions from the multi-Grammy® Award-winning ensemble Chanticleer, whose YouTube videos of his work have garnered over a million views. Several of his choral arrangements and original compositions have become staples for choirs across the United States. Distinguished performance venues include Chicago Symphony Hall, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Carnegie Hall, and National Sawdust.
As a collaborative pianist and organist, he has toured with choirs in Italy, France, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, the Philippines, and throughout North America. At the age of 15, he played the organ for mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, and sang at an audience for Pope John Paul II. To this day, he continues to work extensively in liturgical music ministry.
Dr. Peterson earned the BMus. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of the late celebrated composer Conrad Susa. He earned a Double MM in Composition and Choral Conducting from Mannes College of Music, where he studied under pioneer conductor Mark Shapiro as well as composer David Loeb, and was awarded the 2007 Music Teacher’s League Award upon graduation. He earned his DMA from the Conservatory at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, writing his dissertation on his former teacher Conrad Susa. He is a leading authority on Susa’s work. He was the 2018 recipient of the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal by Chorus America, a lifetime distinction he shares with only 19 of the most influential choral musicians in the United States.
A recognized thought leader in the music world, The New York Times called Peterson “authoritative beyond his... years,” and The Brooklyn Eagle praised his work as “a stunning symphony of the spiritual and secular,” while hailing him as a solo performer “with depth and vigor” who “provided a universal context which resonated with his audience.” Through his work as a teacher and pedagogue, he has mentored, inspired, and supported hundreds of musicians across musical disciplines and from six continents.
