Irene Weiss Peery

Weiss Peery, Irene

Irene (Joan) Weiss Peery (b Weiss, m Peery). Pianist, teacher, b Cardston, Alta, 11 Apr 1946; B MUS (Juilliard) 1970, M MUS (Juilliard) 1972, DMA (Peabody Cons) 1987. At eight she was performing major works in Alberta festivals, winning every class she entered for the next eight years. Gladys Egbert, with whom she studied 1957-65 in Calgary, was her most significant teacher. Irene Weiss won first prize in the CBC Talent Festival at 17. Two years later, with the aid of a Ford of Canada scholarship and a Canada Council award, she went to New York, where she studied 1965-73 with Ilona Kabos and Irwin Freundlich at the Juilliard School. Her teacher at the Peabody Cons 1981-7 was Leon Fleisher. She made a Carnegie Hall debut in 1972. She taught 1974-81 senior piano and pre-school music education at Utah State U, Logan. She made a 49-concert tour of the North American west coast and Alaska in the 1974-5 season and has been heard on CBC TV ('Centennial Performance') and CBC radio ('Mods Make Music' 1968). In 1983 she began teaching piano at Brigham Young U in Provo, Ut. She has continued to be active as a recitalist and has performed with orchestras in the USA and Canada. With her psychologist husband J. Craig Peery she has co-authored Music and Child Development (New York 1987).