Peter Van De Graaff

Peter Van De Graaff is recognized nationwide as a leader in classical music broadcasting. After beginning his radio career in 1984 at KBYU, he came to 98.7 WFMT as a staff announcer in 1988. For the past 19 years he has been the host of the Beethoven Satellite Network, a nationally-syndicated daily program carried on over 200 stations. Since 1996 he has been the program director of the service as well. He has also hosted such nationwide broadcast series as Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Van Cliburn Piano Series, Opera from the European Broadcasting Union, Music of the Baroque and the Vermeer Quartet. Hailed by the critics as possessing a "resplendent voice" and "rich, burnished sound" with "formidable skill" and a "commanding grace and strength", bass-baritone Peter Van De Graaff has sung to great acclaim throughout the world. In Europe, he performed and recorded a Mass by Jan Vorisek with the Czech State Symphony under Paul Freeman and has also sung Beethoven's Missa Solemnis throughout the Czech Republic and Poland with the Czech Philharmonic. He appeared in Berlin with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Schoenberg's Moses und Aaron. In Budapest he sang with the Budapest Concert Orchestra in Verdi's Requiem and in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Chamber Orchestra joined him in a Mozart Mass. As a recitalist he appeared in Tokyo. His singing has also taken him throughout the United States, where his appearances include engagements with the Houston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Utah Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Wichita Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, Richmond Symphony and many, many others. Conductors with whom he has worked include Pierre Boulez, Christopher Wilkins, Paul Freeman, Bernard Labadie, Paul Hillier, Joseph Silverstein, Robert Page, Thomas Wikman, Jane Glover, Klaus-Peter Seibel, Victor Yampolsky, James Paul, Daniel Hege and Nicholas Kraemer, among many others. Mr. Van De Graaff has made a specialty of the baroque repertoire and this has brought him as soloist to the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Costa Rica International Music Festival, Chicago's Music of the Baroque, Pittsburgh Bach Choir, Grand Teton Music Festival, St. Louis Early Music Festival, Boulder Bach Festival and several other festivals and concert series throughout the country. He and his soprano wife have been responsible for the modern premieres of several early 18th century chamber operas called "intermezzi." He has also been active in the opera house and has performed with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Opera, Rochester Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Cedar Rapids Opera among many other companies. Peter also has a great interest in languages and speaks Dutch, German and French, and has studied in addition, Italian, Spanish and Russian. This past winter, Peter Van De Graaff was the sixth recipient of the Karl Hass Prize for Music Education.