Award-Winning pianist to Perform at Purdue University on April 6

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – As the 2017 winner of the American Pianists Awards Classical Fellowship, Drew Petersen becomes the organization’s latest rising star to perform at Purdue University, joining such contemporaries as Sean Chen, Eric Zubel and Sullivan Fortner. Petersen was featured on the PBS special From the Top at Carnegie Hall and since gone on to graduate from Harvard and received a master's degree from Juilliard.

Petersen will perform at Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse at 8 p.m., April 6. This performance is presented by Purdue Convocations with support from John and Janet Nine and the Robert B. and Patricia Peyton Truitt Piano Performance Endowment.

Ticket holders are invited to purchase tickets to the pre-show dinner hosted by the Sagamore Room from 5:30-7:30 p.m. More information is available at www.convocations.org/dinner.

Petersen began playing piano when he could barely reach the pedals. Now, after nearly two decades of professional performance, it is unsurprising that no aspects of artistry exceed Petersen’s grasp — his intelligence, maturity, and depth featured on the PBS special “From the Top at Carnegie Hall” at age 12 and since enjoyed by audiences worldwide.

Based in Indianapolis for more than three decades, the APA is one of the world’s most foremost performing arts organizations, and its classical and jazz fellowship awards are among the field’s most prestigious, lucrative, and coveted — the champions earning cash prizes, concert opportunities, career guidance, and a recording contract with Steinway and Sons.  

Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Group tickets are also available to groups of 10 more. Call 765-496-1977 for more details or visit https://purdue.edu/convocations/group-sales/.

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations was one of the first professional performing arts presenters in the United States. Each year, Convocations offers the region 30-40 performances of widely varying genres: Broadway-style shows, theater, dance, children's theater, world music, jazz, and chamber music, along with rock, pop, country and comedy attractions. With a vision for connecting artists and audiences in artistic dialogue and for drawing in academic discourse, Purdue Convocations aims to promote frequent exposure to and familiarity with human cultural expression in a multitude of forms and media.

Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu

Note to Journalists: Publication-quality photos are available at http://www.convocations.org/press