Drew Petersen had been playing professionally for eight years when he first tackled Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 at the age of 13.
It might not have seemed extraordinary to him at the time. After all, this achievement was par for the course for the precocious musician. He will be performing this work again on Nov. 11 with the Carmel Symphony Orchestra.
Petersen, now 23, was presented at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall at age five. At age nine, he performed a solo recital at Steinway Hall in Manhattan for the company’s 150th Anniversary. Since then he’s been performing nationwide and taking top honors at five major piano competitions.
But his performance schedule didn’t put a damper on his education. He received a B.A. in Liberal Arts from Harvard at age 19. And he completed his undergraduate musical studies at Julliard, where he was recently accepted into the Artist Diploma Program.
Petersen’s resumé is certainly spectacular — he is the winner of the 2017 American Pianists Association Classical Award, after all — but he’s not flashy in his approach to the piano. He’s more interested in, as he says, “opening a conversation with an audience,” than impressing with virtuosity.