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Peter Nero

Peter Nero was trained as a classical musician, and became interested in jazz at the age of 19 after hearing the legendary Art Tatum. In the late 50s, he spent four years playing jazz clubs such as the Village Gate, Village Vanguard, the Blue Angel, and the Tropicana lounge in Las Vegas, before being discovered by RCA Records in 1960. They were looking for a ‘pop’ pianist, and auditioned more than 100 before choosing Nero. During the next eight years, he recorded some 24 albums, including the Grammy-winning “The Colorful Peter Nero,” in 1963. Two years previously, in 1961, Nero had won the Grammy for Best New Artist.

Peter Nero is unrivaled as a pianist and Pops conductor. His blending of classical, swing, Broadway, blues and jazz - all performed with vibrant virtuosity, amazing authenticity and an inviting sense of humor, have won him a loyal and enthusiastic audience. "The best aspect of Nero's art could well be his crazy creativity. He has the gift of seeing a song as no one has seen it before," exclaimed Mary Kunz, music critic for The Buffalo News. The Washington Post has dubbed Peter "the epitome of the Pops Conductor/Performer."

One of Peter's greatest achievements is being the founding Music Director of the world renowned Peter Nero and the Philly Pops. Extraordinary for any orchestra these days, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops also recently signed a three-record deal with DRG Records.

The Maestro's recent guest performances include return engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Buffalo and Dayton Philharmonics, the Florida Philharmonic, and the Pacific, St. Louis, Ottawa, Detroit and Virginia Symphony Orchestras. Peter also continues to tour throughout the year in solo recitals. As a Steinway artist for close to 50 years, Peter returned to New York's Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2003 to perform at the 150th Anniversary of Steinway Gala with many noted pianists, including Dr. Billy Taylor, Herbie Hancock and Michel Legrand.

The Brooklyn-born musician started his formal music training at the age of 7. By the time he was 14, he was accepted to New York City's prestigious High School of Music and Art and won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music. Constance Keene, his teacher and mentor, once wrote in an issue of Keyboard Classics, "Vladimir Horowitz was Peter's greatest fan!"

Peter recorded his first album in 1961 and won a Grammy that year for "Best New Artist." Since then, he has received another Grammy Award, garnered 10 additional nominations and released 67 albums.

Peter Nero/Philly POPS, with Ann Hampton Callaway, February 6, 2011

by Lewis J Whittington
February 19, 2011

Peter Nero and the Philly POPS with Ann Hampton CallawaySingin' & Swingin'Kimmel Center Verizon HallPhiladelphiaFebruary 6, 2011 Peter Nero is so charming a bandleader for the Philly POPS that he could easily get away with phoning the music in, but with the pianist/conductor, that is never the case. The POPS' unique turf of symphonic jazz and big-band swing was on ample display at its Singin' & Swingin' concert, headlined by vocalist Ann Hampton ...

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Live Review

Peter Nero and the Philly Pops: Philadelphia, December 31, 2010

by Victor L. Schermer
January 22, 2011

Peter Nero and The Philly Pops“Swinging in the New Year"The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA December 31, 2010 Peter Nero is that rare musician who can negotiate between classical forms, the jazz idiom, popular music and light-hearted humor, generating great energy in his co-musicians and audiences. So it was an inspired touch for him to add a New Year's Eve concert to the already packed schedule of performances of the Philly ...

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Live Review

Peter Nero and the Philly Pops Celebrate the Music of the “Greatest Generation”

by Victor L. Schermer
April 16, 2010

Philly Pops Orchestra Revisits “The Stage Door Canteen"Peter Nero, Artistic Director Lynn Roberts, featured vocalistThe Kimmel Center for the Performing ArtsPhiladelphia, PA March 27, 2010 Why a concert review of the popular music of World War II on a jazz-focused website? The very question suggests how misguided it can be to separate jazz from its past. Many of the standards that jazz groups play today come from this period. And nearly all ...

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Interview

Peter Nero: The Laughter and The Challenges

by Victor L. Schermer
February 3, 2010

Part 1 | Part 2

In July 2009, All About Jazz published an interview with legendary pianist and Philly Pops maestro Peter Nero. That interview jumped between his early musical development and his current 30-year tenure as founder and music director of the Philly Pops. There wasn't time then to ask him about what turned out to be the subject of the current interview, the long intervening period including his salad days as a pianist, an ongoing venture ...

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Live Review

The Philly Pops with Peter Nero: A Concert of Bernstein, Rodgers, and Webber

by Victor L. Schermer
August 1, 2009

The Philadelphia Pops with Peter NeroThe Best of Bernstein and the Riches of Rodgers--plus Andrew Lloyd WebberThe Mann CenterPhiladelphia, PA July 22, 2009 Should newer readers question why a concert of this kind is being reviewed on a “hard-core" jazz website, the simplest answer is because of the inseparable historical relationship between two indigenous art forms--American popular song and jazz. Nowhere is that connection more inescapable than in the influence of Broadway musicals on ...

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Interview

Peter Nero: Fabled Pianist and Philly POPS Maestro

by Victor L. Schermer
July 8, 2009

Living legend Peter Nero is that rare musician equally at home with classical music, jazz, the American Songbook, the Broadway musical, movie themes and popular songs. Moreover, he is a masterful pianist, seasoned conductor, composer and arranger in all these genres. Just as exceptionally, he has become a cultural emblem, known to statesmen, entertainers, students, housewives and, it seems, all who listen to American music. He achieved his fame on the piano, with his unique capacity to meld concert style ...

Recording

Peter Nero: 'Sunday in New York'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 29, 2014

In the early 1960s, when virtually all feature films were shot in color, New York played a leading role. Fake city sets on studio lots were no longer suitable stand-ins for Gotham. Also unacceptable was shooting a few outdoor scenes in New York and staging the rest. If you were going to feature New York City as a backdrop, you simply had to film on location. [Above, Rod Taylor and Jane Fonda in Sunday in New York] Many of these ...
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Interview

Pianist/Conductor Peter Nero Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz
February 3, 2010

In July 2009, All About Jazz published an interview with legendary pianist and Philly Pops maestro Peter Nero. That interview jumped between his early musical development and his current 30-year tenure as founder and music director of the Philly Pops. There wasn't time then to ask him about the long intervening period including his salad days as a pianist, an ongoing venture which he continues to pursue in addition to being director of the Pops, the subject of this follow-up ...
read more