A United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts and an Americans for the Arts Roundtable Fellow, cellist Peter Eom has been hailed for his “flowing, lyrical quality of sound” and “agility, purity of intonation, and sureness of taste” (Harald Eggebrecht, Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2022).
As soloist, Peter has played with an eclectic selection of collaborators including the National Symphony Orchestra, MusicaNova Orchestra, Bill T. Jones, Americans for the Arts, YoungArts, and Universal Music Group. He is a prizewinner of competitions including the Klein International String Competition, Alexander & Buono International String Competition, National YoungArts Foundation Music Competition, the American String Teachers’ Association Competition, the Dover String Quartet Chamber Music Competition, and in 2013 was chosen as one of three classical musicians representing the United States of America’s combined class of graduating seniors as a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts.
Peter is the cellist of the Rolston String Quartet, first prizewinner of the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition and heralded as “one of the very best in a quartet-rich age” (Eggebrecht), embracing an aesthetic of playing that is “spotlessly clean, with never a routine phrase” (Kenneth DeLong, Calgary Herald, 2022). He has collaborated with artists including Joshua Bell, Peter Frankl, Augustin Hadelich, Paul Neubauer, David Shifrin, and members of the Dover, Emerson, Miró, and Tokyo String Quartets.
Peter has taught chamber music at Duke University, the Glenn Gould School, University of British Columbia, University of Texas at Austin, and Yale University and taught cello performance at the Glenn Gould School and Northwestern University. Recent engagements include the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the chamber music societies of Calgary, Munich, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, Tulsa, Vancouver, and others.
Deeply invested in paving new collaborative pathways for Classical music and other artistic disciplines, Peter counts among his artistic collaborators distinguished directors, fashion designers, poets, and dancers, including Bill T. Jones, Larry Weinstein, Rosemarie Umetsu, Jacomo Bairos, Stelth Ng, and Marjan Naderi.
Peter was recently chosen as the sole recipient of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and YoungArts NYC Residency 2023-2024. With their support, he will produce SEAMLESS, an interdisciplinary performance combining Classical music with newly commissioned fashion design and modern choreography in a holistic evening uniting three different art forms and their communities. SEAMLESS will premiere at NYC Fashion Week FW 2026.
Peter believes that Classical music is a continuous conversation between the past and the present. He has worked with living composers including Gabriela Lena Frank, Caroline Shaw, Jonas Tarm, Augusta Read Thomas, Jörg Widmann, Dinuk Wijeratne, and John Zorn in both solo and chamber contexts. Most recently he has premiered Augusta Read Thomas’ Magic Gardens for String Quartet in the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s Bicentennial celebration, and was also the first North American ensemble (Rolston String Quartet) to record a highly produced video of Jörg Widmann’s Hunting Quartet, collaborating with Riddle Films and famed documentarist Larry Weinstein.
Peter holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the Colburn Conservatory, a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University, and was a 2021-2022 Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He considers himself lucky to have worked with distinguished mentors including Clive Greensmith, Gary Hoffman, and Hans Jørgen Jensen. Peter hopes to continue his musical journey slowly but relentlessly, like a hungry clock, excavating and celebrating the many jewels of art he encounters on this ecstatic pilgrimage.
Photo by Lane Dorsey, 2023