Zachary A. Peterson enjoys a varied career as a collaborative pianist, higher education practitioner-scholar, and educator. He has performed with instrumentalists and singers throughout the United States, most recently with trumpeter Jared Wallis, bassoonist Blaire K.S. Koerner, and soprano Paulina Swierczek. In 2018 and 2019, Peterson was the collaborative pianist for the Nebraska Music Educators Association All-State Chorus with conductors Z. Randall Stroope and Brady Allred, respectively. As a collaborative partner, he has participated in the master classes of artists such as Renée Fleming, Matthew Haimovetz, Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, and Jeffrey Thomas.

As Associate Director of Graduate Advising and Services for the Eastman School of Music, Peterson acts as the primary resource for students and faculty regarding issues of graduate programs of study. In this role, he serves as the program advisor to approximately 300 MM and DMA students, administers all processes regarding change of enrollment status for graduate students, assists the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies with the preparation of graduate scholarships and assistantships, coordinates the CARE Network for the Eastman School, oversees the DMA Lecture Recital prize, and liaises with Valley Manor and River Edge Manor for their respective Artist-in-Residence programs and recital series. Peterson on several committees across the School and University, including the Eastman Student Support Team (SST), the Eastman Graduate Professional Committee (GPC), the Eastman Graduate Research Committee (GRC), the University Council on Graduate Student Life, the University Council on the Graduate CARE Network, and the University Campus Climate + Care committee. Additionally, he serves as a co-chair of the Rochester Regional CARE and Case Managers group.

An avid Musical Theatre specialist, Peterson 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. Peterson has served a staff pianist for the Lotte Lenya Competition and as the pianist for two installments of the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya Competition Songbook Project. Previous musical theatre engagements include the 2018 NATS National Musical Theatre competition, the Broadway Dreams Foundation’s Circle of Dreams intensive, and numerous musical theatre productions as a keyboardist and music director.

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 hiring and mentoring of faculty in conservatories and music schools, the shift in curriculum in conservatories post-pandemic, the history and pedagogy of collaborative piano, and musical theatre. 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).