Zachary A. Peterson (he/him) enjoys a varied career as a collaborative pianist, higher education administrator, and educator. As a collaborative pianist, Peterson has performed with instrumentalists and singers throughout the United States, most recently with soprano Crystal Sellers Battle, oboist Emily Hart, and trumpeter Jared Wallis. He has premiered Kincaid Rabb’s Crystal Depths with bassoonist Blaire K.S. Koerner and Patrick Dunnevant’s Passion de Jean with bass Cody Müller (co-commission). In addition, he has served as an adjudicator for the solo piano competition of the Hummingbird Festival (Asian American Cultural Exchange) and has held guest artist residencies with saxophonist Nathan Mertens.

As the Associate Director of Graduate Advising and Services at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, Peterson acts as the primary resource for students and faculty regarding issues of graduate programs of study. In this role, he administers all processes regarding change of enrollment status for graduate students, assists the Marie Rolf Dean of Graduate Studies with the preparation of graduate scholarships and assistantships, and liaises with Valley Manor and River Edge Manor for their respective Artist-in-Residence programs and recital series. An advocate for a holistic approach to graduate education, he serves as Eastman’s CARE Network liaison, is a previous co-chair of the Rochester Case Managers Group, and is a member of both the Inclusion at Eastman Committee and Context Conference Planning Committee. He is the proud 2024 staff recipient of the Eastman School’s Inclusive Excellence Award.

An avid Musical Theatre specialist, Peterson has served as a keyboardist/pianist and music director for numerous musical theatre productions. He maintains an affiliation with the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music and is regularly engaged as a staff pianist for performances and projects associated with the Lotte Lenya Competition. In collaboration with James McQuillen, Peterson has presented on playing musical theatre for classical pianists at the International Keyboard Arts Society’s CollabFest. He holds a part-time faculty appointment in the Arthur Satz Department of Music of the University of Rochester where he teaches undergraduate coursework in musical theatre.

Zachary A. Peterson is pursuing a doctoral degree in higher education at the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development of the University of Rochester. His research interests include the retention of graduate music students, curricular change in music higher education, and equity and inclusion in music. He previously completed a Master of Music in piano accompanying and chamber music under the guidance of Jean Barr at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester. He holds a Bachelor of Music in collaborative piano and voice performance from Hastings College, where he studied with Ruth Moore (collaborative and solo piano) and Hillary Watter (voice).