Jerzy Peter was raised in the family in which music was ever present – especially at large family reunions whose participants would at some point spontaneously burst into group singing and playing various instruments. His first encounter with guitar occurred when he was 5 years old under the tutorial of his aunt and godmother Helen Peter. At the age of six he composed his first musical piece and four years later made his début in public while performing at a school party with his pals. In high school he was a leader of two rock bands. With one of these, called "Skrzat-Rock", he used to play covers of famous rock hits of the era as well as his own compositions, whereas with the other one, called "Skrzat”, he presented exclusively his original material, mainly ballads. With the latter band he also took part in qualifying for the Festival of Soviet Song, performing two songs in his arrangement with altered harmonies. Having won one of top prizes, the band went on a fortnight tour of the Soviet Union. Later on his group participated in qualifying for the Song Festival in Opole and also performed in the former German Democratic Republic.
By the end of the seventies Jerzy Peter collaborated with Zbigniew Preisner, one of the world’s greatest composers of film music, with whom he co-wrote musical background to some famous specimens of classical Polish poetry. The fruit of their collaboration was a video clip filmed on the Dunajec river for the national TV and also several recordings made for the local radio station in Cracow.
Upon obtaining the certificate of a stage artist, Jerzy began to work as an accompanist of both opera singers and pop performers for whom he was also writing scores and making transcriptions. He was involved with numerous Polish bands, e.g. “KRAK”, “Filipinki”, “Jurek Boski Band” (they recorded a music for polish radio in Warsaw), and soloists, like Jerzy Styczyński, a very well-known rock guitarist of the band Dżem, or a jazz vocalist Jana Zamfir.
As is often said - music and math have something in common - and Jerzy Peter is a living proof of that. Having obtained his high school diploma, he began studying mathematics at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and then was employed as a teacher of mathematics and simultaneously as a researcher in the Environmental Protection Institute in Cracow. However, all that time he was very active as a musician.
While in Canada he completed his studies in computer science at the Mc Gill University and also at the Concordia University in Montreal. Nontheless he did not neglect his musical career - he played in bands such as "KRAK", "Biało-Czerwoni", "Relax", "Romans", "Maxi-Music". Currently he is a member of several different bands - rock group "Król Maciuś Pierwszy", jazz group "Bit Per Second Jazz Trio", blues group "Blues Pattern Box", rock-folk group "Simple Connexion", duets: "Piórkiem i Smyczkiem", "Alina Bandrowska & Jerzy Peter Duo" and "Karolina Mekarski & Jerzy Peter Jazz Duo". He also collaborates with several choirs, such as "Chanteflleurs", "Cantores Dei" and "Cantate Deo". On top of that he as working with a theater group "Razem" and with a children theatrical emsemble, for which he wrote music and performed it on stage in many shows, like - "Franciscus the Saint", "Katyn", "Nativity Play", "Maiden Vows", "Faustina". He was also a head of the group named “Soli Deo” affiliated at the parish of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Montreal, making arrangements of songs in contemporary style, with elements of jazz, rock and pop. The band was performing sacral songs which combined the ingredients of classical and pop music.
In 2009, during the unveiling ceremony of the monument of John Paul II in Montreal, he performed his three original compositions. He presented also his instrumental version of traditional Christmas carols, which he performed solo in Montreal and Ottawa. In 2009 he took part in the concert "Great Orchestra of Christmas Help" in Montreal. In 2010, he sang in the choir of Piotr Rubik during the concert "Santo Subito" at the Oratory of St. Joseph in Montreal.
He writes music for film, theater and radio. He composes for guitar, piano, big band and orchestra in various musical styles such as jazz, pop, classical, rock, Latin, blues, etc. In 2012, he participated in the third Festival of Music "Dialogue of Cultures" in Poland, where he presented 30 of his compositions. In addition, he arranges works by other composers (such as Jerzy Rożycki, or Laurenti Djintcharadze, former conductor of big band jazz in Vienna). He is also giving guitar lessons.
In 2014 he won the prize as "Pole of the Year - Montreal 2013" in culture. In 2019 album “Twórcy Wizerunku Polonii” ("Creators of the Image of Polonia") was released in Poland and he had a pleasure to be in this book.
Apart from music, Jerzy's great passion is computers. In the 90's he was working as a technical editor and graphic designer for the magazine "Rozmaitości Montrealskie" where he also published numerous essays on computer science. Nowadays he is employed as a Senior Software Developer for a computer company. His main hobby is the development of software (multimedia, games) and the usage of the computer technology, such as VST (Virtual Studio Technology) in music. His other fields of interest are cosmology, astronomy, mathematics and physics.
Radosław Rzepkowski