Biography

Peter Calandra is a prolific composer and keyboard player who has been immersed in the New York City music scene for most of his life; he has scored over 100 films, written over 2000 compositions for television broadcast (including over 40 theme packages for nationally broadcast sports shows including FOX Sports FIFA World Cup Theme,ESPN's theme for the Special Olympics World Games) and performed as a musician in the Broadway productions of Miss Saigon (for 10 years), The Lion King, Les Miserables, The Phantom Of The Opera, and Little Shop Of Horrors. Calandra has garnered acclaim for composing music for Jellysmoke, a film which won the Los Angeles Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, and Unknown Soldier, a film which won the Los Angeles and Philadelphia Film Festivals and also was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He's scored music for every major television network. In addition to his Broadway resume -- which includes first chair keyboard player positions for many of those productions -- he has also performed with the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, NY Pops Orchestra, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Susan Anton, Don Cherry, Aretha Franklin, Allen Ginsberg, Annie Golden, Donna McKechnie, Lillianne Montevecchi, and he spent 16 years as the keyboard player in the NYC-based Climax Band, the creative vehicle for artist and musician Larry Rivers. Calandra's prismatic experience and artistry allows him to authentically inhabit a multitude of genres, conjure up a diverse selection of moods and emotions, and work within a broad array of mediums. "I don't try to define anything because I find that, as a creative person, when you put something in a box, you limit the creative flow," Calandra says. In addition to his keyboard and compositional skills, he is also an accomplished guitarist and multifaceted studio engineer versed in the arts of tracking and mixing. He's on the faculty at Queens College, CUNY teaching Audio/MIDI, Film Scoring and Music Composition to both graduate and undergraduate students. Somehow, Calandra also finds time for personal creativity. His solo albums are wonderfully diverse, spanning world music, Christmas music, jazz, contemporary jazz, new age, pop, and classical. The thread throughout is the lyrical expressiveness of the compositions and purity and purposefulness of the musicianship.
- IMDb mini biography by: Peter Calandra