Peter A. Petroff

Dr. Petroff grew up in Chicago, where he studied piano at the Sherwood Music School. After secondary school, he chose medicine rather than music as a career although his childhood dream was always to "be a composer".

He graduated medical school in 1968. He entered the practice of medicine in San Antonio, Texas in 1976. Throughout this time, his avocation remained composing for the piano.

In 1987, Dr. Petroff realized that if he wanted to obtain his childhood ambition of becoming a composer, he must begin to work seriously. He studied piano with Ms. Delores LeBlanch, and later Marsha Bufler. He studied orchestration and composition with Earl Hoffman.

In 1992, Nina Drath, the president of the Chopin Society, contacted Wojciech Czepiel, a noted Polish conductor and composer about a new piano concerto she wanted to perform. After seeing the rough draft of Dr. Petroff's First Piano Concerto, Wojciech agreed to do with Miss Drath at the piano, in Krakow, the following October (1992). The concerto was recorded later. It received its American Premier in Waco, Texas on January 22, 1998, again with Miss Drath (to whom the work is dedicated) and Mr. Czepiel.

Several of the Dr. Petroff's piano pieces are published by Vivace Press and RBC Publications. They include his Studies, Sonatas no 6, 15, and 16, his Sonata for Violin and Piano, as well as several works used in the piano competition. “Solitude-Multitude” was one of the 10th grade pieces at the Janice Hodges Piano Competition in 2010. Dr. Petroff has performed regularly at the Etude Club in San Antonio.

Dr. Petroff wrote Lisztomania out of his fascination with the composer Franz Liszt and the relationship he had with the great composers and performers during the Romantic Era of Classical Music.

He wrote Forgive Me For I Have Sinned after visiting Guatemala during Holy Week and after learning about the death of Father Stanley Rother at the hands of the military. Father Rother died in defense of his faith and the Native Guatemalans whom he loved. But what if another priest was not so virtuous? That question led to the book.