Faculty

John Perry is a professor emeritus of piano at the USC Thornton School of Music.

John Perry, distinguished artist and teacher, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Eastman School of Music, where he was a student of Cecile Genhart. During those summers, he worked with the eminent Frank Mannheimer. Recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, he continued studies in Europe for four years, where he worked with Wladyslav Kedra, Polish concert artist and professor at the Akademie für Musik in Vienna; and Carlo Zecchi, renowned conductor, pianist and head of the piano department at the Santa Cecilia Academy of Music in Rome.

Perry has won numerous awards including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti international piano competitions in Italy and special honors at the Marguerite Long International Competition in Paris. Since then, he has performed extensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. Also a respected chamber musician, Perry has collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world.

He also enjoys an international reputation as a teacher, presenting master classes throughout the world. He often is a jury member at some of the most prestigious international piano competitions. His students have been prize winners in most major competitions and include two first-prize winners in the Rubinstein, four first-prize winners in the Music Teacher’s National Association national competition, first-prize winners in the Naumburg National Chopin competition, the Cleveland Competition, Beethoven Foundation competition, the Federated Music Clubs and the YKA, AMSC and YMF competitions, as well as finalists in the Chopin International in Warsaw, the Van Cliburn, the Queen Elisabeth, Leeds, Dublin, Busoni, Viotti and the Three Rivers competitions.

Perry is professor at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, professor of piano at California State University Northridge in Los Angeles, visiting artist faculty at Boston University, and professor emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music. In addition, he recently founded a music school, John Perry Academy of Music in Los Angeles, where he serves as artistic director. During the summer, he is an artist-professor at the Lake Como International Piano Academy, the Banff Center in Alberta, Canada, the Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, the Orford Music Festival in Quebec, the Morningside Music Bridge Program in Calgary, Alberta, the Internationaler Klaviersommer Cochem, Germany, the International Music Festival in Perugia, Italy, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, Montecito International Music Festival in Santa Barbara and the John Perry Academy Summer Piano Festival in California. He was also the main guest artist at the Sydney Piano Festival in Australia.

His recordings are available on the Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA and Fox labels.