Lisa Pegher
Lisa Pegher has been named as one of the top six performers of her generation. Hear her and you will agree. As a solo percussionist, she has broken all the molds, bringing percussion out from back-row wallpaper, onto the virtuoso position at front stage center of the nation’s top symphonies. Eschewing traditional concert black dress, Lisa strides out before audiences in a flamboyantly colorful, eye-catching costume that only hints at the cutting edge performance to come.
Lisa has invented and re-invented the possibilities and tools of percussion since the tender age of 11. She has gotten the notedly hidebound establishment of classical and symphonic music to not only accept, but actively seek out her fresh perspectives. Composers like the internationally prominent Richard Danielpour are writing works for her – in coordination with her. (See The Wounded Healer, concerto for percussion and orchestra.) To expand her venue, she has created a new band, aptly named Controlled Chaos. Managing both her own solo and band appearances, you may find Lisa on Friday before the Boston Symphony and on Saturday with her band in a coffee house before an appreciatively avant audience.
What is so fascinating is that Lisa Pegher has bootstrapped her meteoric rise in a true Horatio-Alger fashion.
- In a blue-collar family, in a blue-collar town she selected the drums and adopted them on her own with none of the standard cultural support systems that have aided so many virtuosos.
- She worked at her art night and day – often until her family would beg her to stop. She still continues the incessant practice.
- Having none of the tools and initially none of the traditional training, Lisa said that she “had to use whatever came to hand – become inventive and go my own way.”
- Lisa concentrated solely on her art – building the best metaphorical mousetrap – and let the audiences, concert managers, and other musicians make their own choices. The choices have been positive and the musical world is beating a path to Lisa’s door.
These were but a few of the stories and tactics Lisa Pegher shared with us on the Art of the CEO radio’s February 9th episode: Percussion’s Brilliant Pioneer.
To get to know Lisa a little better, visit www.lisapegher.com.