Prodigy Tickles Ivory Keys in Hometown Return

Russian composer/pianist Sergei Rachmaninov once said that "Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music" and those are words that 18-year-old Drew Petersen has learned to live by since an early age.It is something he is looking to share when he returns home for a classical concert on Tuesday, Feb. 14, 7:30pm at .

"It's rewarding to work on something so beautiful and well crafted that you want to elevate yourself to that next level," Petersen said. "It takes a lifetime worth of work and you can only hope to get there."

The Oradell-native discovered his love of music as a toddler by banging on an old piano his mother had.

"When I was around two or three I would go up to it and bang on it and play around. As I got older, I would look around through the bench and find music and asked my mom what all the little circles and lines meant. After I exhausted her memory, I was enrolled in lessons and everything is pretty much history."

Since then he has studied under the likes of David Bradshaw, Diane Battersby and Miyoko Lotto as well as Maestros Jonathan Strasser and David Gilbert. 

Like an athlete, Petersen's stats are lengthy as he has performed at the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Lincoln Center, and overseas at festivals in Tolentino, Italy, Verbier, Switzerland, and Leipzig, Germany. He was the focus of a documentary titled “Just Normal”, won multiple music competitions and honored with countless accolades for his achievements, but through it all has remained humble and quiet - letting his music speak for himself.

"I've been very fortunate to have so many opportunties, visited many places and meet so many people. But that's what a musician's life is like. I was in Switzerland this past summer for a music festival and people came from all over the world to hear the music."

When not jetsetting around the country or the world to showcase his ability as a soloist or with an orchestra, Petersen is working to earn his Bachelors of Liberal Arts from Harvard University Extension School and furthering his musical education at The Juilliard School. 

"I like to keep myself busy and am currently a senior at Harvard having taken online courses since I was 14 after leaving traditional high school. I've taken some courses on campus but its primarily been online so that I can now study at Juilliard."

Of course music is not his only study as he has also learned French and German and is looking to continue his foreign language skills.

"Many in the musical world are multi-languaged. Music is a universal language in itself but you also need other ways to communicate - how you should play something or want to. It's really important for me to learn and I hope to learn more.

"I feel its important for this music to be shared with others, even if they may not get the chance to hear it in a big city or at a music festival. Sharing it with other people is what makes it all worth it."

To attend Petersen's concert, tickets can be purchased early at $20 per person or $15 for senior citizens and students by printing the attached form and mailing your payment by Friday, February 10, 2012 to: Linda Van Valkenburgh, 627 Ridgewood Ave., Oradell, NJ 07649.

For more information about the concernt call (201) 599-2879 or email oradellspecialevents@gmail.com.