Steven Pierson
A native of Illinois, Steven J. Pierson, graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Music Education from the University of Illinois. While at U of I, Decca Recording Company engaged Pierson on a part time basis. This allowed him to participate in several award winning recordings of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with conductor Sir Georg Solti, pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy and mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne. Possessing academic level fluency in Swedish, he later served for 15 years as an instructor, dean of students and academic dean of a post-secondary school of theology in west central Sweden. During this time, Pierson became acquainted with the music of Eastern Europe, particularly the Baltic States. With the relaxed policies of the latter Soviet Union, students from Latvia and Estonia were accepted to the school, further deepening Pierson’s interest. During his Ph.D. studies in international education, Pierson’s supervising professor, Dr. Ted Ward, worked together with him on plans to research Estonian choir music and its relationship to their cultural identity, history and general education. Articles based on this research have been published by Pierson in Estonian, Finnish, Swedish and English. Pierson currently teaches part time at the College of Dupage and is a member of French horn section of the DuPage Symphony Orchestra. His horn teachers included Ethel Merker of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernhard Scully of the Canadian Brass. In addition, he has presented pre-concert lectures for The New Philharmonic Orchestra, resident at the College of DuPage.
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