An accomplished and nationally active performing arts admissions professional, Fred Peterbark is the Assistant Dean for Conservatory Admissions at the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. Prior to that appointment, he served as Dean of Enrollment and Aid at the Cleveland Institute of Music; Assistant Dean for Enrollment Management and Student Services at Roosevelt University’s College of Performing Arts in Chicago; Director of Music Admissions and Assistant Dean for Preparatory Programs at Ithaca College’s School of Music; Assistant Dean for Recruitment and Diversity at Louisiana State University’s College of Music and Dramatic Arts; and Assistant Dean for Recruitment and Outreach at the College of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Peterbark earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance with teacher certification (K-12) from the University of Michigan and a Master of Music in performance from the University of Colorado Boulder. He is co-author of “Caring for the Whole Student” in Sound Pedagogy: Radical Care in Post-Secondary Music (University of Illinois Press). He has presented on music admissions and recruitment at multiple NASM and NACAC convenings; lectured at the Aspen Music School; and has served as Monfort Professor in Residence at Colorado State University, where he spoke on Black Pioneers in Music Performance. As a performer, Peterbark sang in the NAXOS recording of William Bolcom’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience” which won four Grammy Awards in 2005 (Best Classical Album, Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Contemporary Composition and Producer of the Year, Classical).

Profiled by the Strad magazine as “a man of limitless energy and purpose – he mentors high achievers who make their mark in top positions the world over,” Peter Slowik is one of the world’s most acclaimed artist-teachers of viola. He has been a featured performer and teacher at seven International Viola Congresses, and has recorded on the Deutsche Grammophon, deutsche harmonia mundi/BMG, American Grammophone, Erato and Cedille labels. Mr. Slowik has performed with William Preucil, Anner Bylsma, Leonard Rose, the Mirecourt Trio, the Jasper, Arianna, Saint Petersburg and Vermeer Quartets, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, and members of the Cleveland, Chester, Orford, and Smithson quartets. Past orchestral associations include service as Principal Violist of the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, Concertante di Chicago, and the American Sinfonietta. Between 1986 and 1999 Slowik performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and was solo violist at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He has taught master classes in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Europe, New Zealand, and most of the significant US conservatories Mr. Slowik is Professor of Viola at Oberlin Conservatory and Artistic Director for Credo Music. Past teaching posts include Northwestern University, Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and the Eastman School of Music. He has been named to the highest teaching awards at both Oberlin and Northwestern. Mr. Slowik was the recipient of the Maurice Riley Viola Award from the American Viola Society for “outstanding teaching, scholarship, and performance.” His viola and chamber music students have won first prize in numerous significant national and international competitions. Slowik students may be found in virtually every significant professional orchestra in the US (many serving in titled positions) and in leadership positions in universities and conservatories throughout the country.