Peter Martin
Assistant professor
Percussion
Phone: (804) 828-1166
E-mail: pjmartin@vcu.edu
Office: Singleton Center, Room B-2
Peter Martin has been a featured artist at the Jeju Summer Music Festival of Korea,
the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, The Round Top Festival, the Looptopia
Festival, the Soundfield Festival, the Rush Hour Concert Series, the Leigh Howard
Stevens Summer Marimba Seminar, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the Illinois, Texas, and Kansas Days of Percussion. He has enjoyed competition success as the first prizewinner at the 2003 Percussive Arts Society International Marimba Competition.
Peter is a member of the critically acclaimed ensemble Third Coast Percussion and is the principal percussionist with the Chicago based new music group Ensemble Dal Niente. He has performed with the Scandinavian Chamber Orchestra, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Opera Moda, Ensemble Noamnesia, the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, the New Philharmonic, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra, the Thodos Dance Company, the Sonic Inertia Performance Group, the Longmount Symphony Orchestra, the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, and was a founding member of the Exit 9 percussion group.
A strong advocate for contemporary music, Peter has been involved with the commissioning and premiere performances of dozens of works for percussion. He has collaborated with notable 21st Century composers including Lukas Ligeti, Christopher Adler, Mathew Barnsen, Alejandro Viñao, Kirsten Broberg, and Marcos Balter and, along with Third Coast Percussion, has been the recipient of grant awards from the Jerome Foundation and MetLife Creative Connections for the development and programming of new repertoire.
Peter is an Assistant Professor and the Director of Percussion Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. He has previously served as a percussion instructor at the Northwestern University School of Music, Trinity International University, and the National High School Music Institute. A passionate educator at all levels, he has worked with Urban Gateways and the University of Chicago's CONNECT outreach programs in Chicago as well as the New Jersey Chapter of the Young Audiences organization in presenting educational performances to public schools across the Midwest and Northeast U.S. In high demand as a guest clinician and lecturer in the areas of chamber and solo percussion, Peter has appeared at music schools worldwide including those at the California Institute of the Arts, University of North Texas, University of Central Florida, Seoul National University, St. Cloud State University, Colorado State University, and Iowa State University. Peter is an artist/endorser for Vic Firth Drumsticks and Mallets and Pearl / Adams Musical Instruments.
Peter holds a Doctor of Music degree and an M.M. in Percussion Performance and Literature from the Northwestern University School of Music where he received the prestigious Program Honors Award in 2004 studying with world-renowned percussion soloist Michael Burritt, Chicago Symphony Orchestra percussionist James Ross, and Grammy Award winning drummer Paul Wertico. Peter has also studied with She-e Wu at Rutgers University (B.M. - 2002) and marimba virtuoso Leigh Howard Stevens.
Links:
Personal Website: www.newmarimba.com
Third Coast Percussion Website: www.thirdcoastpercussion.com
Dal Niente Website: www.dalniente.com
