Peter
Jermihov
Director, St. Romanos Cappella
Peter Jermihov was born in Chicago of Russian-emigre parents. He began music studies at age six and first conducted a church choir when he was twelve years old. He graduated with honors from Chicago Musical College with a major in theory and composition. Having written his doctoral dissertation on Georgy Sviridov (1915–1998), a study of national traits in Russian music, he received the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in choral music and conducting from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
In addition to his formal degree training, Jermihov studied at the Musik Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany, the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago under Richard Vikstrom, and the Oregon Bach Festival under Helmuth Rilling. He was invited to the Tanglewood Music Center under Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa as a Conducting Fellow and to the American Orchestra League’s Conducting Seminars under Kurt Masur and Leonard Slatkin as an Active Participant. Appearing with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, Jermihov was selected as a Finalist in the Affiliate Artists Conductor’s Program.
Jermihov came to the St. Petersburg State Conservatory as a Fulbright-Hays Fellow to study orchestral conducting under the legendary master teacher Il’ya Musin. After two years of intensive studies he was invited to guest-conduct the country’s top ensembles: the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg and Moscow Chamber Choirs, among others. These appearances included Russian premiere performances of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1, and Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4. Jermihov has subsequently made appearances with major orchestras in the far East and Europe, such as the Shinsei Nihon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo and the Pro Arte Orchester Wien. In 1988 he participated in a historic celebration at Chicago’s Navy Pier of a Thousand Years of Christianity in Russia by conducting a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Symphony No. 5. He continues to guest-conduct in the Orient, Eastern Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Jermihov has served as Director of Choral Activities at several major state universities and private colleges. He is a tonsured reader of the Russian Orthodox Church and has directed Orthodox church choirs in America and Germany for thirty-five years. His articles and editions appear in the Choral Journal, International Choral Bulletin, and with Mussica Russica, Inc. He is Music Editor of PSALM Music Press.