Doug Peterson: “My church is probably on the concert stage”

Leila Navidi

Doug Peterson, 82, retired from UNLV in 2003. As choral conductor of the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society, he leads 60 singers in several performances a year.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Monday, Oct. 20, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Name: Doug Peterson, choral conductor, Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society

Age: 82

Education: Doctorate in musical arts, choral performance and vocal pedagogy and master’s in music (University of Iowa), bachelor’s in music education (Florida State University) and bachelor’s in arts (Grinnell College).

Philosophy: “My church is probably on the concert stage performing the great sacred masterworks.”

Repertoire: Bach cantatas and masses, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia, Mass in C and Ninth Symphony, Brahms, Dvorak, Handel, all the Haydn masses, Vivaldi, Verdi Schumann, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Mozart. Also, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas and pops.

Pipe dream: Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in D Major (an undertaking for any group)

Getting to Vegas: Peterson started piano lessons as a child, but had to forgo them during the Depression. He followed his love for music, however, and after college taught at high schools and colleges — mostly in the Midwest — before moving to Las Vegas in 1967 to help start the music department at Nevada Southern University (renamed UNLV two years later). In 1968 he became music director of the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. He soon became the group’s conductor. Peterson retired from UNLV in 2003. His main focus is the Musical Arts Society, composed of more than 60 singers who rehearse every Sunday during the season. The group presents two choral/symphonic performances a year, a Christmas concert, pops and musical stagings. Peterson has managed to present some impressive undertakings and continues his studies of choral music. Among his cherished moments is his attendance at workshops by Robert Shaw, the dean of American choral conductors. He even brought Shaw to Las Vegas as a guest conductor.

On choral conducting in Vegas: “There’s an indifference to the art here. You have to scratch here. It’s tough to get an audience. But you go back to the ’70s and ’80s and you were part of building something. One looks back on those days with a certain affection. It was kind of virgin territory and I consider myself a pioneer in Las Vegas, which is a feast for a choral conductor like myself because of all the wonderful musicians in town.”

Family: He and his wife, Martha, a longtime arts advocate who died in the 1980s, had four children. One son, Robert, is a gondolier at the Venetian. Another, David, is an engineer. His daughter, Carolyn, is a music teacher at an elementary school and is president of Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. His son, John, lost his life while serving in the military.

Hobbies/interests: Travel. Often spends his summers in Europe attending workshops, including five summers in Austria studying the Haydn masses. Also attended several years at the Oregon Bach Festival.

Sticking around? No plans to retire and golf in Florida. “I love music that much. It’s infectious. The environments I’ve been in have been so productive in shaping me that the motivation is forever with me, even at this age. I can’t let go.”