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Peter Donovan

About this Artist

As an orchestral musician bassist PETER DONOVAN has performed with The New York Philharmonic, New York Chamber Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's, American Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Concordia Orchestra, New York Virtuosi, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and many others.

Mr. Donovan has worked with many chamber music groups including Speculum Musicae, the Broyhill Chamber Ensemble and the Prism Ensemble. His festival appearances include the Newport Music Festival, Ravinia Festival, Tanglewood Festival, Cape and Islands Festival, Rushmore Festival and the Music Festival of the Hamptons with Lukas Foss, Sarasota Chamber Music Festival, Summergarden Series at the Museum of Modern Art and the Appalachian Summer Festival.

On the New York City jazz scene, Mr. Donovan has worked with Eric Reed, Charles McPherson, Lou Marini, Mike Longo and Fred Hersch. He is a member of String Fever, a "big band' of strings led by Marin Alsop. The group was recently featured in a concert with the National Symphony in Washington, DC. He is a member of the Daybreak Express Jazz Sextet which, through the Midori Foundation, has performed in New York City public schools since 1994. He also leads his own group, the Peter Donovan Band which has performed at such venues as Birdland, the Museum of Modern Art, the United Nations and the 55 Bar to name a few. Mr. Donovan is a two-time recipient of the Meet the Composer grant for his jazz compositions.

Mr. Donovan was the principal bassist for the Oklahoma! orchestra, on Broadway 2002-'03, and has played for many other Broadway shows including The Producers, The Music Man, Marlene, On The Town, High Society, Titanic, Jekyl and Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Dream, Victor Victoria, Sunset Boulevard and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He plays on the original cast recordings of Floyd Collins and Saturn Returns, both on the Nonesuch label. He has also worked with Dawn Upshaw, Liza Minnelli and Maureen McGovern.

In the world of rock music, he appeared with original members of The Who in Daltrey plays Townshend at Carnegie Hall, MTV Unplugged with Bryan Adams and Net Aid with Bono (from U2) and Quincy Jones.

Mr. Donovan holds a bachelor's and a master's degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied with Eugene Levinson.