Maurice Peress

Maurice Peress (born March 18, 1930, in New York City) is an American orchestra conductor, educator and author. After serving as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein beginning in 1961, Peress went on to stand as leader of the orchestra in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1962. In 1970, he also became leader for two years of the Austin Symphony Orchestra. In 1974, he left Texas to take over the Kansas City Philharmonic, where he remained until 1980. He has also extensively conducted orchestras internationally, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1980, the Vienna State Opera in 1981, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra of Rome in 1988, the Brno Orkester of the Czech Republic in 1997, the FOK Orkester at the Prague Spring Festival in 1988, the Shanghai Radio and Television Orchestra in 1996-1997, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1998, and the Barbican Centre Orchestra in London in 1999. In the 2000s, he has toured extensively in China, leading the Shanghai Opera Orchestra, the China National Symphony in Beijing and the Shenzhen Symphony.

In 1984, he became a professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music. Though he has himself a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University, he established a Master of Arts degree in conducting there.

He is the author of Dvorak to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America's Music and Its African American Roots, published in 2004 by Oxford University Press.^[1] Peress worked with Ellington in revising the ending of Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige", which revised composition he debuted with the American Jazz Orchestra in 1988.^[2] As of 2009 he is the music director and conductor of the New Britain Symphony Orchestra in New Britain, Connecticut.

He has three children, all in the arts: Theatrical Director - Lorca Peress, Drummer/Composer - Paul Peress, and Singer/Songwriter - Anika Paris (née Peress).

Notes

1. ^ "Dvorakto Duke Ellington". Oxford University Press. http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Music/MusicHistoryAmerican/~~/dmlldz11c2EmY2k9OTc4MDE5NTA5ODIyOA==. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 
2. ^ Fraser, C. Gerald (1988-03-03). "A rare Ellington work is revived". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEEDF1138F930A35750C0A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1. Retrieved 2009-01-03. 

Sources

• Maurice Peress, Professor, Aaron Copland School of Music.

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Name	Peress, Maurice
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Date of birth	1930-03-18
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