Biography
Pianist Dr. Iris Perry has performed to high acclaim as a recitalist, chamber musician, vocal accompanist, and soloist with orchestras throughout Austria, Holland, Romania, former Soviet Republics and the United States.
Iris is a prizewinner of international piano competitions, including the Stravinsky Awards and Young Keyboard Artists Association International Piano Competitions. She is a recipient of the Yale University Bruce Simonds Scholarship Award for outstanding performance in solo and chamber literature, as well as a PBD Music Scholarship.
Dr. Perry served as the pianist of the Hobart Trio with violinist Kathleen Butler-Hopkins and cellist Joseph Kimura from 2015-2019. A chamber ensemble in residence at William Paterson University, the Hobart Trio frequently performed in academic and community settings. In demand as a chamber musician and collaborative musician, Dr. Perry has participated in various music festivals including American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) and Holland Music Sessions. She is a regular adjudicator in piano festivals and competitions affiliated with National Guild of Music Auditions, Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), NJ Music Educators Association (NJMEA), NJ Federation of Music Clubs (NJFMC) and Associated Music Teachers' League (AMTL).
Strongly committed to music education, Dr. Perry has been a professor at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Bergen Community College, Monmouth University and William Paterson University, where she also served as the director of Music Admissions. Dr. Perry was the founding Executive Director of the William Paterson Academy of Music (WPAM) www.wpunj.edu/wpam, a music school offering classes and lessons for pre-college and adult students taught by Department of Music faculty and students. Here is an article about it: http://www.northjersey.com/news/education/wpu-opens-academy-of-music-for-children-adults-1.1459313
In addition, Dr. Perry has taught at Yale, Indiana, Monmouth and Montclair State Universities, as well as the Thurnauer School of Music at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ and the Solomon Schechter Day School of Bergen County in New Milford, NJ. Adept in teaching applied and class piano, music appreciation, history, theory and keyboard skills, Iris also teaches the Taubman Piano Technique, an approach that enables pianists to play effortlessly, unburdened by fatigue, pain and injury, as well as the Suzuki Piano method to beginning piano students. She is registered in the Suzuki Association of the Americas at https://suzukiassociation.org/people/?id=iris-perry
Dr. Perry's doctoral dissertation on George Enescu: His Pianism and Solo Piano Works led to an invitation to the 2011 George Enescu Musicology Symposium of the George Enescu Music Festival in Bucharest, Romania, to serve as a guest lecturer. More information can be found at: www.ucmr.org.ro. Dr. Perry's publication from the symposium can be found at: http://openlibrary.org/books/OL25217169M/Proceedings_of_the_George_Enescu_International_
Musicology_Symposium_Bucharest_2011. Dr. Perry's piano playing of George Enescu's Andante molto espressivo from his Piano Sonata Op. 24 No. 1 in F# minor was featured as background music in a BBC radio and web documentary. Here is the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01wf9fj and here is the link to the film version: https://vimeo.com/89371469
Check out Dr. Perry's blog "Making the Most Out of Life as a Music Major" at https://www.teenlife.com/blogs/articles/making-most-out-life-music-major#disqus_thread
Dr. Perry's degrees include a Doctorate of Music from Indiana University with minors in Music Education and in Arts Administration, a Master of Music from Yale University and a Bachelor of Music from Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.