J. Joseph Peters
J. Joseph Peters is the founder and current director of the Steuben County Festival Choir and the Choir Director at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Angola, Indiana. He has studied trombone, organ, piano, and conducting at the Interlochen Arts Academy, DePauw University, and the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Peters was an Emerson Scholar at Interlochen Arts Academy where he earned his high school diploma while double majoring in trombone and organ. He earned a Bachelor of Music in trombone performance with a second major in computer science and a minor in organ from DePauw University, on full music merit scholarship, while also becoming a certified Choirmaster through the American Guild of Organists. He then earned a Master of Music from the Jacobs School of Music in bass trombone and conducting and has been named a Pressler Scholar Emeritus. He serves on the Steuben County Humanities Fund board. In 2018, Peters became the most recent and youngest recipient of the Angola Mayor’s Arts and Humanities Award. He currently works as Vice President of sales and marketing at Powerscreen Midwest in Chicago, where he fulfills his childhood fascination with heavy equipment. Most recently, he has been bestowed the honor of becoming a Knight of Magistral Grace in the Order of Malta for his involvement in the Catholic Church.
