The Artists: Peter Tiefenbach, pianist
Peter Tiefenbach enjoys an enormously varied career as a performer, composer and teacher. A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, he studied music in Canada, the U.S. and England before settling in Toronto in 1986. His unique combination of talents has established his reputation as a gifted pianist, mentor and creator.
Mr. Tiefenbach has collaborated with many of Canada’s leading singers including Maureen Forrester, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Brett Polegato, Sally Dibblee, Kimberly Barber, Russell Braun, and Donna Brown. He also appears frequently with duo-piano partner, Robert Kortgaard, most recently as part of Veronica Tennant’s Invitation to the Dance.
With soprano-comedienne Mary Lou Fallis, he has toured throughout Canada, to the U.S., Japan, England and Iceland. The two have also co-written several shows, including An Evening with Karlheinz Vapny at Lunchtime (2000); Primadonna Does Shakespeare (2002); Primadonna Does More With Less (2005); and Primadonna Choralis (2006) and Primadonna Goes Camping (2008). Their latest venture is a CD: Fallis & Tiefenbach LIVE at the Gould.
A Juno Award-nominated composer, Mr. Tiefenbach’s recent commissions include works for the Borealis String Quartet, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Canadian Brass, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Saskatoon Children’s Choir, and the Elora Festival Singers. He was a guest composer at the 2004 World Children’s Choir Festival (Hong Kong), and served as composer-in-residence for the festivals Colours of Music and Music Niagara.
For several years in the 1990’s, Mr Tiefenbach hosted classical music programs for CBC Radio. Among his interview subjects were such major musical figures as Witold Lutoslwaski, Luciano Berio, Henri Dutilleux, Isaac Stern, and Andras Schiff, among many others. He also presented a number of highly regarded specials and series for CBC Radio including The Case for Anton Bruckner, Who Was Richard Strauss?, and Aspects of Mozart.
Mr. Tiefenbach is a member of the faculty of the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where he coaches singers in the Performance Diploma and Artist Diploma programs, and teaches courses in orchestral literature. An avid choral singer, he is a long-time member of the Exultate Chamber Singers, and of the choirs of St Thomas’s Church, Toronto.
