Peter Tuff, Executive Director

Peter Tuff was appointed as Carmel Music Society's executive director in January, 2011. Peter brings not only a passion for great music, but also extensive professional experience as both musical artist and administrator. He served as director of operations for the Monterey Symphony after moving back home to the Monterey Peninsula in 2009.

Peter Tuff is also a versatile musician and performer - whether in opera, recital, musical theater, or as a choral conductor. Peter was profoundly inspired as a young adult by the programs of the Carmel Music Society, and he heard several outstanding performances, including Ely Ameling, Barry Tuckwell, and the Southwest German Chamber Orchestra, to name a few. Peter studied French horn and voice at Pacific Lutheran University before moving to San Francisco to continue his voice studies with the late Dickson Titus.

In 1990, Peter moved with his wife and three children to Austria, where Peter was a member of the Vienna State Opera for six years, and where he spent many summers singing in the Salzburg Festival.

His Salzburg Festival solo performances include Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and Stravinsky's Rake's Progress (available on Arthaus DVD). Peter has sung over 125 leading and supporting roles, including Marcello, Falke, Danilo, Valentin, Dandini, Silvio, Lescaut, Escamillo, Sharpless, Ford, the Count and others. His performance as Hans Scholl in Udo Zimmermann's Weisse Rose with Musikwerkstatt Wien received high praise from the Austrian press. While in Vienna he was also a regular soloist in the Imperial Chapel with the Vienna Choirboys and members of the Vienna Philharmonic.

After ten years in Austria, Peter spent ten years in Colorado and was a frequent guest solo artist with Opera Theatre of the Rockies, the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, the Denver Bach Society, Colorado College's Vocal Arts Symposium, and he was also a member of the Central City Opera Ensemble. His performance of Orff's Carmina Burana with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic met with enthusiastic critical acclaim from the local press: "rich, articulate" and "exquisite, full of passion." Peter was the baritone soloist recently in Carmina Burana with both the Young People's Symphony Orchestra in Berkeley, and with the UC Santa Cruz Choir and Orchestra.

He was featured with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic again in 2009, singing both sets of Copland's Old American Songs. In 2009, Peter also performed Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony in San Jose at the St. Joseph's Cathedral Basilica with Leroy Kromm and the San Jose Symphonic Choir to critical acclaim ("top shelf soloist" and "a burnished and expressive singer"), as well as Finzi's In Terra Pax with the Monterey Symphony and Chorus.

In 2010 Peter sang the role of Billy in Cole Porter's Anything Goes with the MPC Theatre Company in Monterey. In 2011 he returns to the MPC stage as Nick Arnstein in Funny Girl, and sings the title role in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with San Francisco's Pocket Opera. On the concert stage this season, Peter solos in the Verdi Requiem and sings the role of Jesus in the Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Leroy Kromm and the San Jose Symphonic Choir.

Peter is delighted to be serving the Carmel Music Society and our local communities as we celebrate the joy of great music performed by great musicians. Having recently become empty nesters, Peter and his wife (Carmel portrait artist LeAnna Tuff) recently adopted "Mr. Figaro," a mini-poodle mix. They make their home in Carmel.