Lynn L. Petersen, Ph.D.
Lynn L. Petersen grew up in Wisconsin, one of five siblings in a musical family. She began piano lessons at the age of six with her mother as her first teacher, and showed an early interest in composition and improvisation. Petersen earned a B.S. in Elementary Education from Dr. Martin Luther College, a Master of Church Music degree from Concordia College-River Forest, and a Ph.D. in Music Theory and Composition from the University of Minnesota. Her composition teachers included Dominick Argento, Paul Fetler, Richard Hillert, and Carl Schalk. She studied piano with Alexander Braginsky and John Bloomfield, organ with Bruce Backer, violin with Edward Burckart, and voice with Jane Jensen.
Dr. Petersen's compositions include music for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles, choir, voice, piano, organ, and music for liturgy and worship. In 1985 she was the first recipient of the Richard Hillert Award in Composition for Sonata for Trumpet and Piano. She received a commission from the American Guild of Organists to compose Starry Crown Suite, which was premiered at the 2007 Region VIII Convention in Portland, Oregon. In 2006 she was commissioned by the Montana State Music Teachers Association and MTNA to compose a new work which was premiered at the state convention, a song cycle entitled Mary Dyer, Martyr, based on poems selected from Inconsiderate Madness by Helen Marie Casey. She was awarded a Myrna Loy Center Grant-to-Artists for Whirlwind Duo, for flute and organ, which was premiered in Helena, Montana in 2004. She received a commission from the American Guild of Organists to compose an organ prelude based on "Amazing Grace," which was premiered at the 2003 Regional Convention in Salt Lake City. With a commission from the Yavapai College Symphony Orchestra she composed Season of Hope to celebrate the new millennium. Other grants and commissions include the University of Minnesota and Jerome Foundation, the Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program, the faculty brass quintet at Gustavus Adolphus College and Mankato State University, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, organist Dr. Nancy Cooper, and various church choirs and individuals. Many of her original works and arrangements are published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers, Concordia Publishing House, GIA Publications, Northwestern Publishing House, and Pelican Music Publishers.
Dr. Petersen currently holds the position of Associate Professor of Music at Carroll College in Helena, Montana, where she has taught since 1999. She has also taught at St. Olaf College, the University of Minnesota, and St. Cloud State University, and she has held church music positions in the Twin Cities and Colorado Springs. She has over twenty-five years of experience teaching and performing and frequently serves as an adjudicator at music festivals. She has remained active as a pianist and organist, and has sung in school, church, and community choral groups for many years.