Peter Tiboris

Peter Tiboris, Conductor

Conductor Peter Ernest Tiboris was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on October 31, 1947, to Ernest Peter Tiboris, a dentist, from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and Stella Menas, of Waukegan, Illinois, first generation Greek-Americans of the Greek Orthodox faith.

Early Life/Education

Peter Tiboris’ interests in Greek culture and music began at age five with piano lessons and continued at age nine with organ lessons given by the Reverend Father Peter Murtos of the St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Sheboygan. At age 10 he became St. Spyridon’s organist.

Peter Tiboris studied music education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, receiving a bachelor’s degree (B.M.) in 1970 and a master’s degree (M.S.) in 1974. While still an undergraduate, he became Assistant Choir Master at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Madison, under Michael Petrovich. From 1969 to 1971, he composed five pieces of Greek Orthodox liturgical music, all unpublished, but performed by various Greek Orthodox Church choirs in the U.S.

In 1980, he received a doctorate (Ed.D) in music education from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Between 1972 and 1984, he taught at colleges in Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Louisiana.

MidAmerica Productions

While serving as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette (now called University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in 1983, Peter Tiboris was asked to organize a concert in New York to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Archbishop Iakovos as Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America. The concert, on January 7, 1984, at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, brought together soloists, choruses from Louisiana and New York, and the American Symphony Orchestra for a Greek-themed program which included the world premiere of Dinos Constantinides’ Hymn to the Human Spirit and the New York premiere of Constantinides’ Lament of Antigone. The concert also marked the New York conducting debut of Peter Tiboris and the inaugural concert of MidAmerica Productions.

A review of Peter Tiboris’ first concert, written by the critic Tim Page in The New York Times, deemed Mr. Tiboris’ New York conducting debut “vigorous…alert, energetic.”

Peter Tiboris has conducted many works in the choral repertoire as well as symphonic works, operas, and ballets, including world, U.S., and New York premieres of works by Beethoven/Mahler, Bruckner, Dinos Constantinides, Dello Joio, Dohnányi, Effinger, Philip Glass, Gregory Magarshak, Mozart, Nielsen, Schnittke, Taneyev, Tchaikovsky, and Mikis Theodorakis. He has also conducted in 20 countries.

MidAmerica Productions has presented approximately 1150 concerts worldwide, including 850 concerts in New York, in such venues as Stern Auditorium, and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; and Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center. The original choral format has expanded to include Madrigal Festivals, a National Wind Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Festivals, National Festival Youth Orchestra, Sweet Adelines, and solo concerts.

The company has become a launching pad for Elysium Recordings, Inc., a CD label founded in 1995 that has released 27 recordings to date and is distributed by Qualiton Imports; the Manhattan Philharmonic, a freelance orchestra in New York; a solo and chamber music series at Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall; and a music festival in Greece, Festival of the Aegean, which has completed its 8th season on the Island of Syros and was named “Best Festival in Greater Greece 2011” by the Music Critics of the Union of Greek Music and Theater Critics, Athens, Greece.

Personal Life

Peter Tiboris is married to the soprano Eilana Lappalainen and has two children from a previous marriage, Ernest Peter Tiboris, born in 1979; and Stephanie Susan Tiboris, born in 1982. His brother, Gus, a dentist, was born in 1948 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

External Links

Official Website MidAmerica Productions Website Festival of the Aegean Website St. Spyridon Church, Sheboygan, WI