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Drew Petersen’s Rach 3 in Charleston Leaves a Big Impression
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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

 

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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

 

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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

 

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Lukas Foss

“confident and assured”

— Cathalina Burch, Arizona Daily Star

 

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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

 

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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

 

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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

Opinion: A Master And A Prodigy, Distinctive performances at the Music Festival

“…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.”

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— 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

 

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Jay Harvey

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