Peter Seymour
Encyclopedia
Peter Seymour is a double-bassist
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who resides in Brooklyn, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. He is the co-creator, manager, and double-bassist
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

 of PROJECT Trio
Project Trio
Project Trio is a chamber music ensemble based in Brooklyn, New York. It consists of Greg Pattillo , Eric Stephenson , and Peter Seymour...

, an internationally touring chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 ensemble. He has performed in concert halls around the world, including Severance Hall
Severance Hall
Severance Hall is a concert hall located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. The hall has been the home of the Cleveland Orchestra since its opening on February 5, 1931...

, The Concertgebow
Concertgebouw
The Concertgebouw is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Dutch term "concertgebouw" literally translates into English as "concert building"...

, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

. Seymour is also an active educator. As a member of PROJECT Trio
Project Trio
Project Trio is a chamber music ensemble based in Brooklyn, New York. It consists of Greg Pattillo , Eric Stephenson , and Peter Seymour...

, he organizes and performs in over 100 school concerts per year.

Biography

Seymour earned his Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...

 degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....

 and his Master of Music
Master of Music
The Master of Music is the first graduate degree in Music awarded by universities and music conservatories. The M.Mus. combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization with graduate-level academic study in subjects such as music history, music theory, or music pedagogy...

 degree from Rice University
Rice University
William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University or Rice, is a private research university located on a heavily wooded campus in Houston, Texas, United States...

, where he studied with Paul Ellison
Paul Ellison
Paul Ellison is co-principal bass at the Grand Teton Festivals, and is Professor of Double Bass at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He was also on the faculty of The Colburn School Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, California.Mr...

. While a student at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts
Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts is a public secondary school located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas . Booker T. Washington High School enrolls students in grades 9-12 and is the Dallas Independent School District's arts magnet school...

, he won the 1997 Down Beat Award
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...

 for best Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 Soloist. While in college, Seymour participated in some of the nation's finest music festivals, including Music Academy of the West
Music Academy of the West
The Music Academy of the West is a music conservatory located in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara, California. Every year, it hosts a summer music festival for the community highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composers, conductors, and artists.A yearly maximum of 135...

, Chautauqua Institution
Chautauqua Institution
The Chautauqua Institution is a non-profit adult education center and summer resort located on 750 acres in Chautauqua, New York, 17 miles northwest of Jamestown in the western part of New York State...

 and the New York String Orchestra Seminar at Mannes College.

After his education, Seymour went on to play in the New World Symphony Orchestra
New World Symphony Orchestra
The New World Symphony is the United States' only full-time orchestral academy preparing musicians for careers in symphony orchestras and ensembles...

 under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas
Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is currently music director of the San Francisco Symphony, and artistic director of the New World Symphony Orchestra.-Early years:...

. He was also a member of the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra
Colorado Music Festival
The Colorado Music Festival is a classical music festival in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded in 1976 by the Vienna-born conductor and violinist, Giora Bernstein and presents an annual summer season of concerts in Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra...

 for seven seasons. Seymour has performed with a multitude of world class orchestras, including Houston Symphony, Iris Orchestra, the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...

, and the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...

.

While a member of the Colorado Music Festival
Colorado Music Festival
The Colorado Music Festival is a classical music festival in Boulder, Colorado. It was founded in 1976 by the Vienna-born conductor and violinist, Giora Bernstein and presents an annual summer season of concerts in Boulder's Chautauqua Auditorium performed by the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra...

, Seymour and cellist Eric Stephenson conceived of forming a chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 group that would combine elements of jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

. Their original idea was to come together two or three times a year in various cities around the country for a week-long music infusion with concert and education/outreach activities. The two approached flautist Greg Patillo and created PROJECT Trio
Project Trio
Project Trio is a chamber music ensemble based in Brooklyn, New York. It consists of Greg Pattillo , Eric Stephenson , and Peter Seymour...

. In 2005, they gathered in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

 for a series of performances and music workshops for youth. Seymour continued to work as a sub for the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...

 but after Patillo placed a video on youtube that became a viral success for its unique mix of beatboxing and flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

, he was persuaded to move to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 to join Patillo and Stephenson. PROJECT Trio
Project Trio
Project Trio is a chamber music ensemble based in Brooklyn, New York. It consists of Greg Pattillo , Eric Stephenson , and Peter Seymour...

 has since recorded three critically acclaimed albums and performed in concert halls, clubs, classrooms and music festivals around the world, including Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....

 and South By Southwest
South by Southwest
South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...

. The group also continues to be active in music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...

.

Discography

  • PROJECT Trio: Live in Concert(DVD) (Harmonyville Records, 2011)
  • PROJECT Trio Live Cuts #2 (Harmonyville Records, 2011)
  • PROJECT Trio Live Cuts #1 (Harmonyville Records, 2011)
  • PROJECT Trio (Harmonyville Records, 2010)
  • Brooklyn (Harmonyville Records, 2009)
  • Winter in June (Harmonyville Records, 2007)

Videos


External links

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