Biography

Bassist Peter Spaar teaches both classical and jazz bass for the UVA Department of Music.  He has been performing professionally since the age of seventeen, when he began his career in the bars and restaurants of Bourbon Street in his former home of New Orleans. Since then, he has earned a Bachelor of Music degree from James Madison University as well as a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas. His primary teachers include Sam Cross, Edward Rainbow, Thomas Lederer and Mark Bernat.

Mr. Spaar currently holds the Robert and Ruth Cross Principal Bass chair of the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia and is also a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra. He is a former member of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and currently serves as the principal bass of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, the Oratorio Society of Virginia, and the Virginia Consort.  He has played regularly with the Charlottesville Ballet, the Charlottesville Opera, the Staunton Music Festival and the Lynchburg Symphony.

As a jazz bassist, Mr. Spaar has had the privilege of performing with such jazz luminaries as Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Pat Metheny, Cyrus Chestnut, John Abercrombie, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mose Allison. He was a founding member of the Free Bridge Quintet, which served as UVA's faculty jazz group for twenty-five years. He is currently the bassist for the John D'earth Quintet, which has recorded extensively and performs weekly at Miller's Downtown. He also founded the department's Small Jazz Groups program and currently directs two of the four groups.