Peter
Solomon Gross graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase in 1995, receiving
a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Traditional Composition. He studied composition with
the decidedly contemporary Dary-John Mizelle, honed his Counterpoint under the
tutelage of Anthony Newman, the eminent Baroque performer, and learned harmony
and analysis with Robert Fertitta, choral director and reknown improviser. During
that time he was invited to a series of tutorials at The Amsterdamse Hoogschool
voor de Kunsten where he received further definition to his technique from Andre
Douw, Jos Zwannenburg, and Willem Wander van Nieuwkerk. It was at Purchase where
Mr. Gross received his first commissions: the ballet Irruptions, and music
for a production of Athol Fugard's South African drama Lena and Boesman.
He began teaching woodwinds upon graduation at the prestigious North Shore Performing
Arts Academy, as well as giving tutorials in Composition and Music Theory. In
1997, as Composer-in-Residence at Searingtown Elementary School he created a program
designed to teach children of various grade levels to compose a piece of original
music, to be performed. A challenging project, Peter used a combination of simple
contemporary and tonal techniques, culminating in an innovative and collaborative
effort. In 1998 he began his conducting studies in earnest with the composer/conductor
Gary Fagin at the New York Conducting Institute, and soon found an appointment
as Conductor of the Arumdaun Church Youth Orchestra in Bethpage, NY. Also at this
time Peter was engaged in comprising a collection of solo Clarinet arrangements
for HLH Publications, including the Second Movement of Mozart's "Haffner"Symphony,
Chopin's Prelude in Db-Major "Raindrops", the famous Adagio
from Beethoven's Sonate Pathetique, and Telemann's Sonate in E-Minor,
with originally composed piano accompaniment. Soon afterwards Warner Brothers
Music engaged Mr. Gross to produce a sheet music arrangement of the hit song "I
Want it That Way" by the Back Street Boys, a definite departure from his
classical background. At this point he started working much more actively in music
publication, producing various scores from 1999-2002, including the Sonata
in E-Major and New York Suite, by Ken Hatfield and published by Arthur
Circle Music. Following this was the engraving and editing of the entire score
for Tovah Feldshuh’s Tallulah, Hallelujah, the Off Broadway show which
ran for six months to sold-out audiences at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater.Also
since 2000, he has begun a close affiliation with the highly esteemed conductor
John Yaffé, presently working as his Orchestral Assistant for the 92nd
Street Y Symphony Orchestra in Manhattan. In the autumn of 2002 Peter worked on
the opera music of Arif Mardin, winner of a Grammy Award in 2002 for his production
of Nora Jones' hit song "Come Away With Me." Most recently he was enagaged
by the Dance Theater of Harlem to engrave a portion of the mammoth orchesatral
score of St. Louis Woman, a ballet based on the 1946 opera of the same
name by Harold Arlen (with new arrangemnts and music by Joesph Fields), which
was performed at the State Theater for the reknown Lincoln Center Festival 2003.
All the while Peter has continued to work on his own original compostions and
arrangements. Currently, he lives nestled on the North Shore of Long Island in
the beach hamlet of Bayville. This page is dedicated to the memory of his beloved
chocloate lab, Hosehead.
