Jeffery Meyer

Born in Chicago, Jeffery Meyer began his musical studies as a pianist, and shortly thereafter continued on to study composition and conducting.  He is the founder and Artistic Director of the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic  in St. Petersburg, Russia, as well as the Director of Orchestras at the Ithaca College School of Music.  In the 2008-09 season, he will assume the position of Artistic Director of the Water City Chamber Orchestra, Northeast Wisconsin’s only professional chamber orchestra.  Jeff is also the Orchestra Director at LSM Academy and Festival, a summer festival for talented high school musicians.  He has appeared with orchestras in the United States and abroad, including ensembles such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra Sinfonico “Haydn” di Bolzano e Trento.  In recent concert seasons, he has been seen conducting, performing as piano soloist and chamber musician, as well as conducting from the keyboard in the United States, Canada, Russia, Italy and Germany.

Called “one of the most interesting and creatively productive conductors working in St. Petersburg” by Sergei Slonimsky, he is an active participant in the music of our time, has collaborated with many composers, and commissioned and premiered many new works.  In 2007, he made his Glinka Hall conducting debut in the final concert of the 43rd St. Petersburg “Musical Spring” International Festival, featuring works by three of St. Petersburg’s most prominent composers.  He has been featured numerous times as both a conductor and pianist as part of the “Sound Ways” International New Music Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.  As a pianist, Jeff has been in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and in residence at the Aspen Festival as part of the Furious Band.  He performs frequently with percussionist Paul Vaillancourt as part of the piano-percussion duo Strike, which, in 2009, will record an album of world-premiere recordings of works written for the duo on Luminescence Records, Chicago.  He has been broadcast on CBC, has recorded and performed with the Philadelphia Virtuosi (Naxos), and has been heard as a soloist at the Aspen Festival.  During the 2001-2002 academic year he lived and studied in Berlin and Leipzig as the recipient of a DAAD grant in music, during which time he wrote incidental music to David Mamet's Duck Variations, which was performed throughout Berlin by the theater group Heimspieltheater.  He was selected as a semi-finalist in the 2004 Pedrotti International Competition for Conductors, a finalist in the 2003 Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2003 Beethoven Sonata International Piano Competition, Memphis, Tennessee.  He was also selected to be included in the 60th Anniversary Edition of Who’s Who in America.

In addition to performing in masterclasses for such artists as Richard Goode, John Perry, György Sebök, Robert McDonald, and Leon Fleischer, he has studied chamber music with Julius Levine, Charles Neidich, and Timothy Eddy. He has worked with conductors such as Gustav Meier, Bridget Reischl, and Robert Spano.  Jeff holds degrees in piano as well as composition and completed his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with Gilbert Kalish at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Jeff is an active adjudicator, guest clinician, and masterclass teacher.  He has adjudicated throughout the United States, including Alaska, as well as at the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival.  He has served on the faculties of the Dorian Keyboard Festival, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Marrowstone Music Festival, and the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival.