Alluring Experience

Alluring Experience

“Music Educator Night at the Symphony”

Daniel Hege, guest conductor

Featuring Sarah Coburn and Stephen Powell performing works, arias, and duets from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Donzetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Verdi’s Rigoletto.

 Saturday, March 4, 2022 | 7:30 PM
Tulsa Performing Arts Center

TULSA SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES MUSIC EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNER FOR MARCH “MUSIC EDUCATORS NIGHT” CONCERT TO BE AWARDED ON STAGE

TULSA, Oklahoma. – The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra is proud to announce Pete Peterson will be honored as the recipient of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra Ron Wheeler Music Educator of the Year award, which honors his impact, accomplishments, and legacy of exemplary music educators in the state of Oklahoma. Namesake of the award, Ron Wheeler said,

“Pete Peterson has been an inspiration and a friend to thousands of young musicians over his long career. He created the string program at Union Public Schools and built it into one of the finest, and one of the largest, in Oklahoma. His dedication to music and to education is exemplary. Pete has an exceptional combination of fine musicianship and exuberant personality that inspires young people to be the best that they can be. I am very pleased that he is the TSO recipient of the Music Educator of the Year award. He is most deserving.”

Tulsa Symphony Executive Director Keith C. Elder stated,

“We are proud to have Pete Peterson as part of our Tulsa Symphony family both as a musician and as an advocate for education and musical excellence. We are excited to recognize and celebrate his dedication, passion, and contributions to music education in Oklahoma.”

Pete Peterson has impacted many lives in the Tulsa area through education and other programs he has been involved in for many years. Peterson grew up playing cello taking private lessons from Baltimore Symphony’s finest. His inspiration to teach and conduct came from his father who was a junior high band director and from his high school band director. Peterson’s teaching career spans 35 years at Union Public Schools, where he started their strings program in 1981. Ed Tackett, retired Union’s Fine Arts Director and TSO Board Member, hired Peterson for his first year of teaching. “He is one of my best hires! He built our strings program from the ground up,” said Tackett, about Peterson. Peterson started with a few 6th grade orchestra pioneers which later grew into an orchestra with over 700 string players in grades 6-12 by the time he retired. He is the current Conductor of the Tulsa Youth Symphony’s Concert Orchestra and has been since 2006. Additionally, he has directed many local youth orchestras, festival orchestras, numerous All-District and Honors orchestras. Peterson has served as cellist with the Gettysburg Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Tulsa Opera, and Signature Symphony. He is currently a member of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, the Mosaic Trio and the Tulsa Quartet. He holds a Master of Music degree in Cello Performance from the University of Tulsa which he completed after earning a degree in Music Education from Towson State University in Maryland. Throughout his life, music has always played an important role. Peterson said,

“Music has the power to soothe the soul, to elicit emotional response, and to bring people together. I have been quite fortunate to have been able to make a career sharing my passion for music with people of all ages. What a joy it is to be a music educator in a city as culturally rich as Tulsa!”

On March 4, 2023, the Tulsa Symphony will perform at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center at 7:30pm. The event is open to the public and will be dedicated to music educators and coined “Music Educator Night at the Symphony.” This concert, officially titled Alluring Experience: An Evening of Opera, will feature guest conductor, Daniel Hege, and have special guests, Sarah Coburn and Stephen Powell performing works, arias, and duets from Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Donzetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, and Verdi’s Rigoletto. Coburn, a Tulsan, has performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Vienna State Opera; and other major companies throughout the US and Internationally. Powell has performed with many operas and symphonies throughout the US and abroad including Los Angeles Opera, Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, and many more.