American percussionist Peter Ferry is a young artist acclaimed for his virtuosic expressivity and dedication to creating arresting musical experiences for audiences around the world.

 

Called "an artist of vision... presenting percussion in a stunning thoughtful way," (Democrat and Chronicle) Ferry puts audience experience first, curating projects that showcase an extraordinary variety of percussive timbres, musical perspectives, mixed media, and audience engagement. His contagious passion for percussion and commitment to sharing artistic excellence have earned him praise as “the ingenious percussionist Peter Ferry” (Chicago Sun-Times).

 

A passionate advocate for new music, he has devoted himself to collaborating with the most exciting composers of our time. He has premiered works by Meredith Monk, Shawn Okpebholo, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Marc Mellits, Jlin, Elliot Cole, Ivan Treviño, and John Luther Adams, and has worked with countless others including Georg Frederich Haas, Ayanna Woods, David Lang, Erin Gee, and Steve Reich.

 

As a soloist and chamber musician currently based in Phoenix, Ferry’s performances have spanned the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. He has appeared onstage at some of the world’s finest institutions including Carnegie Hall, Santiago a Mil International Festival, Brooklyn Steele, (le) poisson rouge, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Kennedy Center.

 

Considered “one of the most promising and committed soloists of his generation” by composer Michael Daugherty, Ferry’s concerto debut at age 18 set the stage for future solo engagements with the Chicago Philharmonic, Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Lakeview Orchestra, Baroque on Beaver Island Festival Orchestra, and with dozens of university ensembles. With a passion for championing new percussion concerti, Ferry delivered the world premiere of Elliot Cole’s The Future is Bright, the New York premiere of Jacob ter Veldhuis’s Barracuda Concerto, and the North American premiere of both Dave Maric’s Lifetimes and Joe Duddell’s Ruby, its conductor Jerry Hou commending Ferry’s “deep musicianship and artistry.”

 

Driven by a belief in artistic collaboration, Ferry fosters projects beyond the boundaries of contemporary music. With Emmy Award-winning light and shadow artists Manual Cinema, he developed shows that are “endlessly imaginative and exquisitely beautiful” (The New Yorker), selling out venues and extending runs at The Public Theater, ArtsEmerson, Court Theatre, and abroad. His entry into the European Museum of Modern Glass’s permanent collection and nomination for the Coburg Prize with live flameworking glass artist Carrie Fertig celebrated performances offering "cascades of new sounds... whose effect can hardly be escaped" (Neue Presse Coburg). Tours of his experimental partnership with video artist Xuan are “breathtaking… funny, boundary-pushing, thought-provoking” (Rochester Fringe Festival critic Jeff Spevak). His solo work with choreographer Nick Pupillo and Visceral Dance Chicago is “full of vitality” (Chicago Tribune), performed for over 2,400 attendees of Dance for Life’s 25th Anniversary at Chicago’s Auditorium Theater.

 

In 2020, Ferry premiered Marc Mellits’s solo suite Parkland, based on the harrowing experience of a family friend at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in a series of online gatherings to bring together isolated attendees from around the world. In each of the twenty sold-out events, he led intimate conversation on the music’s difficult subject matter with the audience and composer.

 

A member of Alarm Will Sound, the chamber orchestra named “the future of classical music” (The New York Times), Ferry develops the group’s ambitious projects as Assistant Director of Artistic Planning. He has staged, conducted, and led the ensemble in performances at the Park Avenue Armory, Bang on a Can Festival, National Gallery of Art, and Philharmonie de Paris in works such as John Luther Adams’s Ten Thousand Birds and Tyshawn Sorey’s For George Lewis.

 

When directing large-scale community events, he leads participants of every musical background in the joys of shared artistic experiences. He has created the interactive on | off installation with composer Danny Clay and artist Xuan at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, directed the world premiere of Shimmer by Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and is artistic director of the ongoing Flowerpot Music with composer Elliot Cole, presented for Lincoln Center with summer students of The Juilliard School.

 

In the American contemporary music community, Ferry has appeared as a guest with Ensemble Dal Niente and the GRAMMY-award winning ensembles Third Coast Percussion and Eighth Blackbird.

 

As an educator, Ferry dedicates time while touring to coach students on advancing their own artistry. He has been welcomed at notable music schools and conservatories including Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Universidad de Chile, University of Washington, Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, the University of South Carolina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Blackbird Creative Lab, and New York University.

 

From early childhood, music has been at the center of Ferry’s core. Drumming on cereal boxes before he could form sentences, he formally began his percussion studies at age 9. An alumnus of the Eastman School of Music, Ferry trained with renowned performer/pedagogue Michael Burritt, graduating with the first-ever John Beck Percussion Scholarship and the prestigious Performer’s Certificate recognizing “outstanding performing ability.”

 

When home in Phoenix, he can be found messily concocting original kombucha and cocktail recipes with his partner Emma. With much of his year on-the-road, he revels in wandering through unfamiliar cities and discovering a memorable meal.

 

Ferry proudly endorses Marimba One, Vic Firth/Balter Mallets, and Zildjian.