Lisa Pegher
Los Angeles

As quoted by symphony magazine; Lisa Pegher is “blazing a particularly rocky, untrodden trail” in the world of percussion. Having grown up on a small rural farm in Western Pennsylvania, Lisa began playing the drums at the age of eight and made her debut as a solo percussionist with the Pittsburgh Symphony in her early twenties. Since then she has been described by critics as a “brilliant, polished performer” and continues to premiere and commission numerous works for solo percussion.

After her highly successful debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall, Pegher has appeared as soloist in numerous venues including the cities of Chicago, Tokyo,  Eindhoven, Houston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Nashville, and New Orleans. She was one of only two Americans chosen to perform at the 2006 TROMP International Percussion Competition and Festival in the Netherlands and  has been a featured artist at the Percussive Arts Society Convention in Austin, Texas.  This season Pegher will be performing with orchestras in Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana among others.

Pegher earned her undergraduate degree at the Duquesne University Mary Pappert School of Music, where her primary teachers were Pittsburgh Symphony members, Andrew Reamer and Stanley Leonard. She later earned her masters degree at Northwestern University where she studied with Michael Burritt, Jim Ross, and Paul Wertico. 

Prior to the launch of her solo career, She was winner of the Aspen Music Scholarship awarded by the Minnesota Orchestra music competition, and was a recipient of the William J. Spencer Award fund at Northwestern University. She was awarded the Vladimir R. Bakaleninkoff Memorial Fund Scholarship, and was winner of the Women’s Advisory Board Music competition at the Mary Pappert School of Music. Pegher received the Director’s Prize at the Kingsville International Music Competition in Texas, and first place honors at the Northwestern University Concerto/Aria competition. She is also a recipient of the international YAMAHA Young Performing Artist Award.

Currently, Pegher is collaborating with composer, Andrew Knox, and Graphic Designer, Eric Cantrelle on a project called “Minimal Art”. This project will combine computer music, projection art and improvisation. She has also commissioned composer, David Stock to write her a new percussion concerto with a grant from “Meet the Composer”.  The new concerto will be performed with various orchestras in the 2008-09 season.

A drummer at heart, Pegher can also be heard playing for the Chicago based art rock band Mira Mira and has begun songwriting for solo marimba and voice. She was the solo percussionist for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble during the 2005-2007 season and is currently the sole percussionist with VOX a contemporary trio consisting of flute, cello and percussion.

Marimba One and Innovative Percussion endorse Ms. Pegher.

www.lisapegher.com