User:Pjermihov

Peter Jermihov, a Russian-American conductor, was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 4, 1954 of Russian-émigré parents. Nikolai, his father, came to America after World War II from Petsery, Estonia, a Russian village that is home to the Pskovo-Pecherskaia Lavra. Nadezhda, his mother, was born in Orenburg, Russia, into the family of Vasiliy Morozov, a family with prominent and ancient roots in St. Petersburg. Jermihov's godfather, the Very Reverend Vladimir Glindskiy, was a White Army Officer who emigrated to Paris and then the United States after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution; he founded the Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in Chicago (currently in Des Plaines, Illinois) where Nikolai and Nadezhda centered their new life in America. A small but tightly-knit Russian community formed this Russian Orthodox parish, and the Jermihov family was an intrinsic part of its growth and day-to-day life. He began music training at age six, studying piano under Nikolai Kulikovich, a Moscow Conservatory graduate, and, a few years later, choir directing under Evgeniy Krylow, a Russian composer. He studied solfeggio, theory, transposition, voice, and the system of tones of the Russian Orthodox Church. By age fourteen he was appointed choir director of the Cathedral Choir. After graduating from Lane Technical High School in Chicago, he enrolled in the Chicago Musical College (currently called the Chicago College of Performing Arts and housed under the auspices of Roosevelt University) with a major in music theory and minors in piano and voice. His piano teachers were Saul Dorfman and Goldie Golub, and his sole voice teacher was Robert Long. In 1980 he was a festival conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling and the Classical Music Seminar in Eisenstadt, Austria under Don V Moses. In the 1980's he participated in several master classes under the Swedish conductor, Eric Erickson. Jermihov completed his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees in choral music and conducting at the University of Illinois at Urbana. During his degree work there, he studied privately with Tom Fredrickson–theory and analysis (covering the bulk of Igor Stravisnky's work), Paul Vermel–orchestral conducting (studying precepts of the French School of Conducting), and Alexander Ringer–musicology (studying the music Beethoven and Bartok). In 1985, Jermihov was awarded the Fulbright-Hays Fellowship in conjunction with an exchange program administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board. He traveled to St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad), Russia for two years with the purpose of studying orchestral conducting under Ilya Musin, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory, and researching his doctoral dissertation devoted to the music of Russian Composer–Georgy Sviridov. This period of study included intense preparation, rehearsal and performance of the standard symphonic repertoire, including the works of Russian masters, as well as numerous consultations with Georgy Sviridov about his compositions. While in Russia, he met Irina Riazanova, a student of choral conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory, and they were married on February 4, 1987. After Russia, Jermihov was selected as an active conducting participant at the Tanglewood Music Center under Leonard Bernstein and Sejii Ozawa (1990), and the American Symphony Orchestra League Workshop in St. Louis under Leonard Slatkin and Kurt Masur (1989 & 1990). He was a finalist in the Affiliate Artists Conductors’ Competition (1988) and the 9th Conducting Contest of the Min-On Concert Association, Tokyo, Japan (1991). The conducting studies in Russia and the United States culminated in numerous conducting engagements with choirs and orchestras around the world including, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra (formerly USSR), the Russian Radio and Television Orchestra, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (formerly Leningrad), the Shinsei Nihon Symphony Orchestra, Pro Arte Orchester Wien, the Louisville Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Choir, the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir (formerly Leningrad), Gloriae Dei Cantores, and many others. In 1990 he served as Robert Shaw's assistant in preparing Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem at IFCM's 2nd World Symposium in Stockholm, Sweden. His research led to numerous publications centered around the choral works of Georgy Sviridov (see references). In 2002 he founded the St. Romanos Cappella, a Chicago-based professional chamber choir devoted to sacred music and the music of Orthodox composers. He has served as Director of Choral Activities at major state universities and private colleges across America and Taiwan and is active as a guest-conductor, lecturer, and clinician in Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, and the United States. Jermihov resides in Chicago with his wife, Irene, and two children–Nicholas and Anastasia. For more information, please visit: www.peterjermihov.com. References: 1. International Choral Bulletin, Dossier: “Russian Secular Music after 1917 and Georgy Sviridov,” Volume XVIII, Number 2 — January 1999. 2. Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities: “Symbiotic Links in Georgy Sviridov’s Poema Pamiati Sergeia Esenina,” Volume VI — February 1998. 3. International Choral Bulletin, Compiler and Editor, Dossier: “Russian Sacred Music after 1917,” Volume XVII, Number 2 — January 1998. 4. Choral Journal: “Links between Composer and Poet in Georgy Sviridov’s Poema Pamiati Sergeia Esenina,” Volume 37, Number 5 — May 1996. 5. Musica Russica, Inc., Editor of choruses by Georgy Sviridov: “Concerto in Memory of A. Yurlov” — 1995 “Three Choruses from the play Czar Feodor Ioannovich” — 1995 “Echo” (No. 4 from the Choral Concerto: A Pushkin Wreath) — 1995 “Reveille” (No. 7 from the Choral Concerto: A Pushkin Wreath) — 1995 “Natasha” (No. 8 from the Choral Concerto: A Pushkin Wreath) — 1995 “Magpie Chatter” (No. 10 from the Choral Concerto: A Pushkin Wreath) — 1998. 6. Choral Journal: “Georgy Sviridov’s Kursk Songs: Peasant Music Transformed,” Volume 34, Number 1 — January 1993. 7. "Keys to a Russian National Composer: An Introduction to Georgy Sviridov," Doctoral Thesis, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — 1992.