Biography

Jacqueline Peatry, Pianist
A native of Osaka, Japan, Jacqueline Peatry began life in music at the tender age of four under the direct supervision of her father. Within a year, she began the exciting career of pianist with her first public recital. When she moved to Chicago, she began taking classes at the Chicago Conservatory College, studying under Bernice Peck for nine years. During this period, Ms. Peatry placed first in every competition she entered.
Winning the Chicago Symphony Youth Auditions and solo performer with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra led to eight additional performances including Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center and at the Ravinia Festival. Over the years, she has worked with conductors such as Irwin Hoffman, Milton Preves, Dr. George Lawner, Dr. Paul Freeman, Dr. Leon Stein, Anton Witt, Carmen Dragon, and Frank Winkler.
While completing a scholarship program at DePaul University’s School of Music, she competed and won the opportunity to be heard by concert pianist Andre Watts, who was holding auditions in major cities as well as Toronto, Canada. She was singled out along with sixteen other pianist among the 250 applicants, which included stiff competition from the Juilliard School and Curtis Institute of Music. This accomplishment was followed by being one of 42 pianists chosen to compete in the Robert Casadesus International Competition.
Ms. Peatry has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall, on radio, and broadcast television. She has been a guest artist at the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, and Thorne hall at Northwestern University. Jacqueline Peatry has performed for Rudolph Serkin and the Austrian Consul General, Dr. Hans Sabaditch on CBS Television. While Living in Chicago, Ms. Peatry commuted to Manhattan up to twice a week in order to study under concert pianist Nina Lelchuk, a professor at the Moscow Conservatory as well as the author of several articles on the art of piano playing. Currently, Ms. Peatry is an Artist Pupil of Mary Sauer, Principle Keyboard, CSO.
Ms. Peatry was a distinguished member of the piano faculty at the American Conservatory of Music and American Conservatory Trio. She has held a position at the Old Town School of Folk Music and conducted a class of piano pupils at the Fine Arts Building of several years. Ms. Peatry was also the official piano teacher at the Francis W. Parker School (1995 – 2000). She is a member of the Mu Phi Epsilon Sorority and the Musicians Club of Women.
Jacqueline’s most recent performances include Live from Studio One on WFMT – 98.7 radio and an All Liszt rendition at the Union League Club sponsored by the Chicago Fine Arts Society. She also performed a recital at the Beautiful Sound sponsored by the Steinway Society of Chicago and soloist with the Harper Symphony Orchestra, performing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat. In addition to gearing toward international competition, she continues to work on a recording project with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in Prague and the Istanbul Symphony in Turkey.

Awards

Jacqueline is the recipient of dozens of awards including:
• The Rudolph Ganz Award
• Louis Sudler Foundation Scholarship
• Scholarship for the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Prize winner, University of Utah Summer Arts Festival
• Union League Scholarships (2 each)
• Arthur C. Becker Awards (2 each)
• Schnell Piano Award
• Farwell Award

Principle Teachers

• Mary Sauer, Principle Keyboardist of CSO (Retired)
• Henry Fogel, former President of the CSO, Dean of CCPA @ Roosevelt University
• Nina Lelchuk, a former student of Yakov Flier and Heinrich Neuhaus
• Gitta Gradova, a former student of Rachmaninoff and Horowitz
• Andre Watts, Tanglewood

View workshops →