Peter P.  Fournier

To his total surprise, Peter P. Fournier was pictured on the front page of the Calendar Section of the LA Times in January, 1996 as "Mr Holland's Opus" of Orange County. Hailed as "a natural teacher," Fournier has dedicated his 40-year career to working with students and young artists who have performed on the nationally televised "Donny & Marie Osmond Show," marched in the internationally televised 1997 Rose Parade, performed as the first OC high school symphony in the OC Performing Arts Center, and in 2003, the first OC high school symphony to perform in Carnegie Hall, New York. By 2003 Fournier had established the largest string program with over 150 strings at University HS in Irvine.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fournier was educated at the University of the Pacific's Conservatory of Music where he studied piano and trombone. Receiving a scholarship on trombone to USC, he received his Master's degree in trombone and conducting. Graduate studies in conducting include working with Frederick Fennell and H. Robert Reynolds. As an active freelance trombonist, he has performed with the Stan Kenton and Henry Mancini Orchestras, plus with the Disneyland Band and Opera Pacific. Equally successful in the musical opera scene, Fournier was music director of the Irvine Civic Light Opera and has over 30 musicals to his credit.

In 2003 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Wind Band and Orchestra Festival in Carnegie Hall. The same year he was appointed the Music Director of Bones West, a 50-member trombone ensemble that performs Big Band Jazz. At a very special performance in 2006, Fournier performed a solo and duet with his son Rob (a trombonist on Broadway shows) with BonesWest in Carnegie Hall to a standing ovation! As co-founder and director of the Four Seasons Youth Orchestra, he has also served as an adjudicator, clinician and conductor in the Sydney Opera House, the Beijing Children's Palace in China, the Budapest School of Music, and the Singapore Boy's School in Indonesia. This year his touring schedule includes the Cramer Trombone Ensemble performing in Germany, Prague, Czech Republic and Denmark, and guest conducting the Irvine Young Concert Artists in Korea and Taiwan. 

Mr. Fournier serves as an adjudicator and clinician at international music festivals with World Projects International. Pete was recently nominated for a 2014 National Grammy Award recognizing outstanding music educators. Mr. Fournier's home is in Newport Beach where he enjoys biking and boating.

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