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Drew Petersen
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“The rehearsal left me feeling like I was walking on a cloud. Drew IS the music! Extraordinary playing!”

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Drew Petersen is an acclaimed New York-area based American pianist celebrated for his compelling and poetic performances across a diverse repertoire, from Bach to Zaimont. Recognized as a sought-after soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician, he has earned numerous accolades, including the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2017 American Pianists Awards, and the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship.

The 25/26 season includes recitals in series from San Diego, CA to Westfield, NJ with a program ranging from Mozart to Liszt and John Adams, as well as concerto debuts with the Baltimore and Hartford Symphonies. 2018 marked the release of his first solo recording of music by Barber, Carter, and other American composers on the Steinway & Sons label for which BBC Music Magazine acknowledged his presence as a rising star.

A frequent radio contributor, Petersen has performed on platforms such as McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase, From the Top, and Performance Today. His performances and profiles have been featured in The New York Times, New York Magazine, and the award-winning documentary “Just Normal” by Kim Snyder. An enthusiastic chamber musician, he has appeared on France Musique as part of a Verbier Festival piano trio.

His inclusion in Andrew Solomon’s bestseller Far From the Tree sparked a national dialogue on raising extraordinary and different children. Dedicated to advocating for classical music and the arts, he was awarded the 2006 Davidson Fellows Award for his project, Keeping Classical Music Alive. He has also collaborated with Young Audiences NY to bring performances to New York City’s public schools.

Petersen is also a passionate traveler whose career takes him all over the world, where he explores new cuisines and connects with locals just as eagerly as he performs for fresh audiences. A Harvard graduate, he earned his Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Social Science with honors at just 19 years old. He also completed both his undergraduate and graduate music studies at the prestigious Juilliard School, where he was awarded the renowned Kovner Fellowship. Deeply committed to the role of music in today’s global society, Petersen has gained a unique perspective on how musical performances can uplift and enrich humanity. Through his extensive concert experience, he hopes to share his musical journey with others, inviting audiences to witness the transformative power of the arts firsthand.

Find him on Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube under the handle @drewpetersenpiano.

Acclaim for Drew Petersen

“This young man [Drew Petersen]’s performance of the treacherous Rach 3 was absolutely perfect — tantalizing, bombastic, dreamy, scary, soothing, everything it should be.”

1

“A truly magnificent performance. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard Rachmaninoff played as well. I especially loved the tender touch and emotion that he put into his playing.”

2

“That was an incredible performance tonight! I have never heard Rachmaninoff’s 3rd played so sensitively. He found the nuances I’ve never heard before tonight.”

3

“The rehearsal left me feeling like I was walking on a cloud. Drew IS the music! Extraordinary playing!”

4

“…Pianist Drew Petersen gave a riveting performance of the Gershwin. He found the sweet spot between classical correctness and jazz freedom, using rubato like an expressive, crooning, jazz singer, and tossing in accelerando moments to playful effect in some spots and urgent effect elsewhere.”

— Elaine Schmidt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Profile: Drew Petersen Pianist, Winner of Avery Fisher Career Grant

A profile of pianist Drew Petersen, winner of a 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant Award.

— NYC-ARTS Profile

 

NYC-ARTS Profile

“That is what is so astonishing about Drew…that he feels the music, he can make it come alive again, make you touched by it… That’s what is unusual. That’s what I like about him. He is not just a child prodigy but is a brilliant musician.”

— Lukas Foss, composer, conductor, pianist

 

Lukas Foss

“confident and assured”

— Cathalina Burch, Arizona Daily Star

 

Arizona Daily Star

“Three of the six finalists played Rachmaninov, but only one brought anything fresh or arresting to these overfamiliar works. That was 21-year-old American Drew Petersen, who – inexplicably as far as I’m concerned – only placed fourth; his account of Rachmaninov’s First Concerto was the best of the six performances in the final by some distance, and he perfectly captured the music’s youthful ebullience and glitter.”

— Andrew Clements, The Guardian

 

Andrew Clements

“The 2017 American Pianists Awards’ top prize — carrying a $50,000 cash prize and entailing much career assistance over the next two years as Christel DeHaan Fellow of the American Pianists Association — went Saturday night to Drew Petersen, a 23-year-old from Oradell, New Jersey, and a master’s degree candidate at the Juilliard School. The announcement capped two days of “Gala Finals” with five candidates for the award each playing a major concerto.”

— Jay Harvey, Upstage

 

Jay Harvey Upstage 2017

Young pianist returns and wows them again

“… he plays the music as the composer intended. There is none of the mannered, exaggerated choreography of many of today’s piano virtuosos.”

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— Shelter Island Reporter

Shelter Island Reporter

“…with his playing of Chopin’s Nocturne No. 8 in D-flat major, that the miracle of being a prodigy came wondrously to the fore. It seemed as though Drew Petersen instinctively understood that Chopin was spinning a long, contemplative dream-that the filigree lights and shadows of this hushed work contained the sophisticated languors of a yearning heart.
To hear a 10-year-old boy breathe life and romantic subtlety into so expressive a work, is to encounter the true mystery of what makes so very young a person leap
toward the flames of artistic maturity.”

Read More…

— John Jonas Gruen, The East Hampton Star

The East Hampton Star

“It was a kaleidoscope of interpretations that struck the ear most when in April the finalists in the American Pianists Association’s season-long contest played Judith Lang Zaimont’s “Attars,” the commissioned work of this year’s classical piano competition.

And that was just one of the ways in which Drew Petersen made his mark on his way to winning the 2017 contest. Despite my reluctance to choose favorites while a competition is in progress, Petersen had won me over last January with his revelatory performance of Robert Schumann’s problematic “Humoreske.”

— Jay Harvey, Upstage

 

Jay Harvey

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