A concertmaster and founder of the Kammerakademie Potsdam since 2000, Peter Rainer has developed an active career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher in his native Germany. He was the founder and leader of the popular Persius Ensemble, focusing mainly on a repertoire written for the classical nonet, and has released three CDs. The latest CD with nonets by Spohr, Clementi and Mozart was chosen by Berlin-Brandenburg Radio (RBB) as one of the best in 2007. In 2008 he founded the Merlino String Quartet, which is touring throughout Germany.
Since 2007 he has been on the faculty of the “Universitat der Kunste†in Berlin and of the “Stern Institute†for young talented students and is assistant to Prof. Uwe-Martin Haiberg.
Music-loving children know Peter Rainer through the many interactive concerts he developed for them in the past 10 years. His upcoming children project is a new concert-version of “Ferdinand the Bull†commissioned by the Kammerakademie Potsdam. This year he will appear at the “Musikfest Schloss Wonfurt†together with “iPalpiti†alumni Tibi Cziger, Caroline v. Bismarck and Eliah E. Sakakushev.
Peter studied violin in the U.S. with Professor Eduard Schmieder at the Meadows School of the Arts, where he received his Artist Certificate in 1994 and his Master of Violin Performance degree in 1995. Upon his return to Germany, he was concertmaster of the Brandenburgische Philharmonie in Potsdam from 1996 to 2000. He has been a faculty member at the University of Potsdam since 1997 and has worked as the assistant to Professor Schmieder at the Holland Music Sessions and at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas.
Peter has been a member and leader of iPalpiti since 1994. In 2005 he received a commendation from the City of Los Angeles for his leadership of iPalpiti and his contributions to culture. During recent seasons Peter led iPalpiti in a special concert at the Nestle Center in Vevey, Switzerland, on its US East coast tour at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall, and to the Bay Area in Northern California.
