Peter Elkus


Peter Elkus is a voice teacher giving master classes for both singers and instrumentalists.
His classes have been presented in institutions in ten countries, including the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, the Munich State Opera, the Accademia Musicale Ottorino Respighi in Assisi and Rome, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Career

Elkus was asked to fill the vacancy created by the death of his teacher, Sebastian Engelberg, at the Mannes College of Music, where he was listed on the faculty for over a decade.
He has been judge of the Regional Auditions of the Metropolitan Opera and President of the panel of judges for the Richard Wagner Foundation, Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires.
He has authored the well received book The Telling of Our Truths - The Magic in Great Musical Performance with comments by Gerald Ginsberg, Dr Charles Kaufman, Dalton Baldwin, Jean Luc Vannier, Mut Asheru and Shinji Eshima.
As a student, he attended opera workshops at the Goldovsky Opera Workshops, in Denver, Colorado, in Wheeling, West Virginia and at New York's Hunter College and Mannes College of Music. He was also chosen by Maria Callas as a member of the Juilliard Opera Theater.
He met his former wife and student Frederica von Stade at Mannes College in 1967. They married in 1973, have two daughters and divorced in 1990. He taught Ms. von Stade between 1975 and 1985 during the absences and illnesses and after the eventual death of their teacher Sebastian Engelberg. During this time, the recordings of Ms. von Stade garnered prizes in France, Germany and Italy in addition to one Grammy award and eleven Grammy nominations.
In the Opera News article "Flicka in ¾ time", Donald Spoto referred to Elkus’s influence on von Stade as having …"guided her through the thickets of an expanding repertory and a demanding worldwide schedule."
In the case Elkus v. Elkus, 572 N.Y.S.2d 901 Elkus was defendant in a dispute with von Stade over marital property and earnings. The case is often used as case study in property class during the first year of law school.