Mitchell Peters
Encyclopedia
Mitchell Peters is former principal timpanist and percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Orchestra. He has composed well-known pieces for the marimba
such as Yellow After the Rain
and Sea Refractions; it is said that these works were composed because Peters felt that there was a lack of musically interesting material that would introduce his students to four-mallet marimba techniques. Several of his snare drum and timpani etude books are in common use as well. He began his career in the army orchestra. He later was principal percussionist of Dallas Symphony before taking the principal percussion position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1969. When principal timpanist William Kraft
retired in 1981 to pursue his career as a composer, Peters stepped up to assume the role as timpanist, a position he occupied through the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2005/2006 season. Peters is well known for his prodigious sightreading ability.
Peters became the applied percussion teacher at California State University Los Angeles shortly after joing the LA Philharmonic. During his tenure as timpanist, he took the position as Professor of Percussion at the University of California, Los Angeles. He continues to teach at UCLA where he gives private lessons to students and leads the UCLA Percussion Ensemble.Mitchell Peters Bio, ucla.edu, Retrieved August 4, 2011
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
Orchestra. He has composed well-known pieces for the marimba
Marimba
The marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
such as Yellow After the Rain
Yellow After the Rain
"Yellow After the Rain" is a composition for solo marimba, written by former Los Angeles Philharmonic principal percussionist Mitchell Peters. Peters reportedly wrote the work for his own private students, for whom he was unable to find musically interesting material that introduced four-mallet...
and Sea Refractions; it is said that these works were composed because Peters felt that there was a lack of musically interesting material that would introduce his students to four-mallet marimba techniques. Several of his snare drum and timpani etude books are in common use as well. He began his career in the army orchestra. He later was principal percussionist of Dallas Symphony before taking the principal percussion position in the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1969. When principal timpanist William Kraft
William Kraft
William Kraft is a composer, conductor, teacher, and percussionist.-Undergrad and Graduate School Years :...
retired in 1981 to pursue his career as a composer, Peters stepped up to assume the role as timpanist, a position he occupied through the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2005/2006 season. Peters is well known for his prodigious sightreading ability.
Peters became the applied percussion teacher at California State University Los Angeles shortly after joing the LA Philharmonic. During his tenure as timpanist, he took the position as Professor of Percussion at the University of California, Los Angeles. He continues to teach at UCLA where he gives private lessons to students and leads the UCLA Percussion Ensemble.Mitchell Peters Bio, ucla.edu, Retrieved August 4, 2011