Peter Woodruff is a retired university professor who has been singing with the basses in the Long Beach Chorale for two years. His favorite piece we’ve performed was the Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in the 2009-2010 season.
Now gather round to hear of Peter’s delightful life story:
“I grew up in Europe after the war and absorbed the musical culture early,” he begins. “I saw my first musical, The White Horse Inn, in Heidelberg at age six, my first opera, Hansel and Gretel, at the Vienna Volksoper at age eight. My parents were not musicians but they loved music, and it was always around us. I was always a singer and have dabbled in piano and recorder. I missed the chance to develop my singing while at Oberlin, but later took private lessons and sang for eight years with the Pacific Chorale, including taking the Brahms Requiem on a European tour. My special love is German lieder. I thought my singing career was over, and am overjoyed to have the opportunity to continue it in such a superlative organization. Our concerts have given me more pleasure and excitement than singing in larger and more ‘professional’ groups ever did.”
Our wily Artistic Director Eliza snapped this shot of Peter taking a breather during one of our marathon dress rehearsals for Vaughn Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem last season.
Outside the musical sphere, Peter ran triathlons for several years after retiring and only stopped when he had a heart attack during a competition. That sounds like a wise decision, Pete. He still runs and lifts weights. He also plays strategy games on the computer (“to excess, I regret to say”), and enjoys cooking, reading (mostly sci-fi), movies (a passion he says he shares with mhis wife) and walking their dogs Rosie and Max. He also tutors for Operation Jump Start once a week.
As he mentioned above, Peter enjoys art songs, especially German and British ones. He also listens to opera (Rosenkavalier is a favorite) and the American Songbook repertoire, and Mahler, R. Strauss, and Copland are among his favorite composers.
To “adopt” Peter as part of our Adopt a Singer program, click here:
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