2021 | Lecturer
Pier Damiano Peretti
Pier Damiano Peretti was born in 1974 in Vicenza, Italy.
He studied organ and composition in his native city, in Padua and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna (at the organ department with Herbert Tachezi and Michael Radulescu). He went on to study in Hamburg (with Pieter van Dijk and Wolfgang Zerer) and take part in masterclasses with L. F. Tagliavini, Harald Vogel, Jacques van Oortmerssen and Jean-Claude Zehnder.
He won prizes in various international organ competitions (including Bologna, Pretoria, Innsbruck, Hamburg, Toulouse). As the only Italian to that date he won the first prize at the traditional international St. Albans Organ Competition (UK) in 1999.
In 2002–2009 he was organ professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hannover, Germany. Since 2009, he heads an international organ class at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.
With an organ repertoire ranging from the Middle Ages to contemporary music, Pier Damiano Peretti has appeared in almost all European countries, East Asia, Israel, and Canada. He made CD recordings for labels Ursina-Motette, Carrara, Naxos, IFO-Records, Ambiente, and Tactus.
His pedagogical work includes a number of masterclasses (e.g., at the Gothenburg Organ Academy, the Europäische Orgelakademie Leipzig or the Haarlem International Organ Academy) and membership in the boards of international organ competitions (such as Tokyo, Montréal, Nürnberg, Odense, Erfurt-Weimar or St. Albans).
Peretti's compositions range from solo pieces to vocal and chamber music to orchestral works. He made various works to order and won prizes for composition, including at the Saarlouis Organ Composition Competition and at the Weimarer Frühjahrstage für zeitgenössische Musik. In 2015, he won the Outstanding Artist Award (music) of the Austrian Chancellery for Mane nobiscum – Missa für die Osterzeit.