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December 17, 2019

Music professor Peter Jermihov nominated for GRAMMY

Five years ago Triton College music professor, Dr. Peter Jermihov, made a personal commitment to record one newly composed classical liturgical composition per year.  At the time, he did not realize the decision to give living composers of sacred music an arena to be heard would put him in the same company with artists such as Lizzo, H.E.R, and Lil’ Nas X.

Ultimately, Jermihov’s decision landed him a 2020 GRAMMY Award nomination as the conductor for Best Choral Performance for Sander: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The 62nd GRAMMY Awards will be on January 26, 2020. 

“I enjoy new music. I enjoy interacting with living composers,” Jermihov said. “The most well- known composers of classical music, Bach, Beethoven, etc., they are obviously great composers, but they’re also gone. Having the opportunity to work with a living composer of classical music during the recording and performing process is truly a lot of fun.” 

Jermihov, a Chicago native with Russian-emigre parents, is the conductor of the Patriarch Tikhon Russian American Music Institute Singers, or PaTRAM Singers. He is an internationally recognized specialist in Orthodox liturgical music and the choir he conducts, The PaTRAM Singers, is a top Orthodox professional chamber choir comprised of accomplished vocal artists from the United States and Canada. Jermihov, a member of the GRAMMY Recording Academy, hand selected the 25-member choir which recorded the GRAMMY nominated performance in three days in the New Gracanica Monastery in Third Lake, Illinois.

At Triton College, where Jermihov has taught since 2006 and earned the Most Outstanding Adjunct Teacher award in 2015, music students take voice lessons from him to learn basic vocal technique. He teaches several different styles ranging from musical theater, vocal jazz, African-American spirituals, classical compositions, and religious and sacred music–the students can choose. 

“I’m very proud of my students that come here; I love them all! I can directly impact them one-on-one, not only help them improve as singers and make music but also how to prepare for a lesson and build an overall work ethic,” Jermihov said of his Triton students. Most are not classically trained, and he is thrilled to see their progress from semester to semester. Many of his students go on to 4-year colleges for degrees in music, while others are returning Continuing Education students.