While most people start off the New Year by setting up goals, Cal State Long Beach lecturer Tom Peters welcomed 2014 having reached a milestone.
Peters, who teaches double bass at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance category for the recording “Cage: The 10,000 Things,” along with his fellow performers Vicki Ray, William Winant, and Aron Kallay.
“I was sitting next to my wife when I found out and she squealed,” Peters said. “For the classical music [genre], our CD was in a field of about 300 others, but we knew there was a possibility … and when the list of nominees were released, we were one of the five [in our category].”
Peters’ CD submission features five pieces by musician John Cage, an American composer who was known for his unconventional use of instruments. Each of the four artists recorded their performances of one of Cage’s solo works, and added a recording of the composer himself.
“It was a really great project,” said Peters, who has been teaching at CSULB since 1997. “There are so many amazing musicians and amazing projects out there that don’t get this sort of recognition.”
Carolyn Bremer, director of the Bob Cole Conservatory, said in a CSULB press release that she considers the Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance to be a “tough category to crack.”
“This is the big time,” said Bremer, who is a composer and former bass player herself. “Tom’s exceptional work in new music is a boon to all of us composers, and I am thrilled that we have a bass player of his caliber here at the [Bob] Cole Conservatory.”
Aside from teaching at CSULB, Peters has remained an active composer and performer. He has performed as a soloist with Ensemble Oh-Ton, People Inside Electronics, MicroFest, the Schindler House and many others. He has also been featured on Nordwest Radio in Hamburg, Germany, according to a CSULB press release.
As a member of the Southwest Chamber Music since 1998, Peters has been on the receiving end of two other Grammy nominations in the past, but he said things are different this year.
“For the other two, I was in a group of about 20, and this time, there’s only four of us in the group,” Peters said. “This is actually the first nomination that I’ve been named for.”
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards will be held in the Los Angeles Staples Center on Jan. 26.