Peter Row
Concerts
For decades Peter performed North Indian (Hindustani) ragas on sitar and rudra vina throughout India, the United States and Canada. In the late 1990’s Peter collaborated with other musicians, including Jazz keyboardist and composer Marc Rossi in The Row & Rossi Project, and with Turkish kemence master Ihsan Ozgen, ceng artist Robert Labaree and bowed tambourist Beth Cohen, exploring the commonalities in Turkish makam and Indian raga. Beginning in 2014 Peter began collaborating with jazz french hornist John Clark in explorations of Raga-Jazz Fusion. In 2015 Peter formed a trio featuring Peter on sitar, Sarah Atwood on violin and Ajay Sinha on tabla. In 2017 and early 2018 Peter collaborated with singer and NEC faculty member Cristi Catt to explore the ties between Hindustani ragas and Portuguese Cantigas. They performed a Cantiga together in Jordan Hall as part of a faculty recital in February 2018. Peter was actively engaged in researching the music of Goa and the 500 year history of the cross-cultural influences between Portuguese music and the music of Goa, when this was cut short by his untimely death.
Rudra Vina

Some Notable Events

August 20, 2017: Brookline Public Library - performance on rudra vina with Ajay Sinha on tabla

June 17, 2017: Heath Union Church - performance on sitar and rudra vina with Sarah Atwood on violin and Ajay Sinha on tabla

    https://youtu.be/17FCBibTJn0
    https://youtu.be/ASXjHwIRt0U
    https://youtu.be/lGsHf8S84Fg

May 30, 2017: Leyden Town Hall - performance on sitar with Ajay Sinha on tabla

May 25, 2017: Clark Institute Scholar’s Residence (Williamstown, MA) - performance on sitar with Ajay Sinha on tabla

July 10, 2016: Heath Union Church - performance on sitar with John Clark on jazz french horn and Ajay Sinha on tabla

April 25, 2016: Emmanuel College (Boston, MA) - performance on sitar with Amit Kavthekar on tabla

April 21, 2016: Boston University - performance with BU students and Dr. Brita Heimarck on flute, supported by Jerry Leake on tabla

January 2014: Gurdjieff Center (Cambridge, MA) - performance on rudra vina with Andrew Row on surbahar

September 2, 2014: New England Conservatory - solo performance on sitar

August 5, 2013: Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA) - solo performance on rudra vina

October 26, 2012: Lexington Council for the Arts (MA) - performance on sitar and rudra vina with Akshay Navaladi on tabla

December 4, 2011: Renaissance Center, University of Massachusetts - performance on rudra vina with Sandy Cortez-Greig on tambur and Krishankant Shukla on dholak
Peter Row playing the Rudra Vina

November 6, 2011: Phillips Andover Academy – performance on sitar and rudra vina with Akshay Navaladi on tabla and Andrew Row on tanpura

September 6, 2011: New England Conservatory - performance on rudra vina

May 1, 2011: Renaissance Center, University of Massachusetts - performance on rudra vina with Sandy Cortez-Greig on tambur and duff

April 2, 2011: Northeast Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology – presentation on rudra vina of an interpretation of 16th century Raga Todi with Sandy Cortez-Greig on tambur and duff

October 1, 2010: Renaissance Center, University of Massachusetts - performance on rudra vina with Sandy Cortez-Greig on tambur and duff

September 10, 2010: New England Conservatory - performance on rudra vina

April 8, 2010: Lecture-performance at MIT

February 20, 2010: University of Massachusetts, Amherst – performance on rudra vina with tabla (Akshay Navaladi)


November 10, 2009: Boston University School of Visual Arts – lecture on “Hindu Music and Metaphysics” followed by rudra vina performance


September 8, 2009: New England Conservatory – performance on rudra vina

September 28, 2008, MITHAS, Boston - performance on rudra vina and sitar with tabla (Anindo Chatterjee)

June 11, 2008, GuitarFest, Boston - performance on sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

February 6, 2008, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - performance on sitar with tabla (Jerry Leake)

October 12, 2007, Boston University - performance on sitar with tabla (Jerry Leake)

September 8, 2007, Boston Arts Festival - performance on sitar with tabla (Jerry Leake)

April 20, 2007, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - lecture performance on sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

October 30, 2006, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - performance on rudra vina

October 20, 2006, Boston University - performance on sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

September 5, 2006, New England Conservatory - performance on rudra vina

June 8, 2006, GuitarFest, Boston - performance on rudra vina and sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

April 24, 2006, American Center, Kolkata, India - performance on sitar with tabla (Subhashish Nandi) - “He held the audience in thrall during the hour-long performance.” (Hindustan Times - April 27, 2006)

March 31, 2006, Buckley Auditorium at Amherst College - performance on rudra vina and sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

December 15, 2005, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, performance on rudra vina

December 6, 2005, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Lecture performance on sitar with tabla (Nitin Mitta)

October 3, 2005 at Musical Instruments of the Silk Road Exhibit - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Lecture demonstration of sitar and rudra vina

September 6, 2005, New England Conservatory, Brown Hall, rudra vina performance.

March 12, 2005 at the Boston Goethe Institute: sitar performance accompanied by Nikhil Titekar on tabla. Program included ragas Maru Bihag, Kirwani and Bhairavi.

April 18, 2003 in Buckley Recital Hall at Amherst College: Peter performed a full recital of Hinudstani music on sitar with Jerry Leake on tabla. The program included: rag Desh - alap, jor, jhala; rag Charukeshi - alap, gats in tintal, jhala, sawal jawab; rag Bhairavi - alap, gat in Rupaktal.

October 25, 2003 at 2:30 p.m. in Williams Hall at New England Conservatory Peter performed on sitar with Jerry Leake on tabla as part of New England Conservatory’s Centennial Celebration.

April 15, 2000 at Holy Cross College and April 29, 2000 at Tsai Performance Center: Peter performed sitar with Musica Viva in a performance of Shirish Korde’s Opera/Dance drama CHITRA.

February 13th, 2000 at New England Conservatory: Concert entitled “Common Ground”—music of the Indian & Turkish Classical traditions separately as well as joint explorations of common ground shared by the two traditions:

  • Peter Row, sitar
  • Jerry Leake, tabla
  • Robert Labaree, çeng
  • Beth Cohen, bowed tanbur


November 6, 1999: Peter performed a full recital for the Hindustani & Karnatik Music Circle of Manchester, New Hampshire. Accompanied by Jerry Leake on tabla, Peter’s program included: Alap-jor-jhala in rag Suddh Sarang; jhaptal and tintal gats in rag Madhumanti; Alap, Masitkhani and Rezakhani gats, jhala with sawal-jawab in rag Desh; and concluded with alap and thumri in rag Bhairavi.

July 12, 1999: As culmination of a week-long intensive workshop on Hindustani and Turkish music offered jointly by New England Conservatory and the College Music Society, Peter performed a collaborative improvisation with the Turkish kemence master, Ihsan Ozgen, exploring the commonalities and contrasts of rag Basant Mukhari and makam Hicaz.

April 7, 1999, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Lecture/demonstration. The Collection of Musical Instruments at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presented a lecture/demonstration about the sitar and sarod, two important string instruments from north India. Peter Row, from the New England Conservatory of Music, and George Ruckert, Lecturer in Music at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, examined the history and construction of these “long-necked lutes,” explain their role in the tradition of classical Indian music, and illustrate their playing characteristics.

March 7, 1999: The Row & Rossi Project, Killian Hall MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts

December 20, 1998: Debut Concert of The Row & Rossi Project, Pickman Hall Longy School of Music, Cambridge, Massachusetts

August 1998: Lecture/performance: The Divine Essence of Sound in Hindu Culture and Art for the Berkshire Institute for Theology and the Arts Stockbridge, Massachusetts

March 1998: Sitar performance in Festival of Improvisation: Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory

February 1998: Sitar performance, Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory

Major Recitals

Peter Row playing the Rudra Vina

Major Solo Recitals in India include:

Banga Sanskriti Sammelan, Kolkata, 1967
Dervari Music Conference, Kolkata, 1967
Hindoli Music Conference, Uttarpara, 1968
Indian Cultural Forum, Kolkata, 1969
Jalsaghar, Kolkata, 1967, 1969, 1970
Prayag Sangit Samiti Commencement Exercises, Allahabad, 1968
Queen’s Park Music Circle, Kolkata, 1971
Sancharini, Bombay, 1971
Sattrang Music Conference, Kolkata, 1969
Sur-Singar Samsad, Bombay, 1971
United States Information Service: tours to Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Shillong, Gauhati, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Kharagpur, Dadar and Kathmandu, 1968 - 1971

Major Solo Recitals in the U.S. and Canada include the following:

Bard College: 1979
Boston Center for the Arts: 1974
Boston Conservatory: 1974
Boston Visual Arts Union: 1975
Boston University: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005
Bowdoin College: 1981
Brandeis University: 1974, 1975, 1981, 1982
Brown University: 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978
Clark University: 1982
Colby College: 1978
College of the Holy Cross: 1978, 1980
Fogg Art Museum: 1976
Goethe Institute of Boston: 2005
Guelph University, Ontario: 1981
Hartt School of Music: 1975
Harvard University: 1974, 1975, 1983
Holyoke College: 1980
M.I.T.: 1975, 1976, 1983
Middlebury College: 1982
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: 1982, 1999
National Conference of the Association of Indians in America: Philadelphia, 1976
National Public Radio: 1975
New England Conservatory: 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2005
Nu Classix, Boston: 1985
Peabody Museum, Cambridge: 1980, 1981
Pro Musica, WGBH Boston, 1977
Rhode Island School of Design: 1980
Smithsonian Institution: 1977
St. Francis College: 1975
Stetson University, Florida: 1981
TAV Studio, Toronto: 1979
Temple University: 1975
The Alternative Museum, NYC: 1981
Tufts University: 1981, 1983
University of Arizona: 1975
University of Vermont: 1974
University of Washington, Seattle: 1983
Walters Gallery, Baltimore: 1980
WBZ-TV, Boston: 1977
WERS Radio, Boston: 1978
Wesleyan University: 1974, 1976
Wheaton College: 1982
WNAC-TV, Boston: 1975
Woodstock Music Studio: 1981

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