Peter Curtis is a guitarist and composer. He has performed or recorded with notable jazz musicians including Claudia Acuna, Lynn Arriale, Seamus Blake of the Mingus Big Band, Don Braden, James Carter, Freddy Cole, Barbra Morrison, James Moody, Eldad Tarmu and Ron Westray of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. He has played in some of the top jazz clubs in Los Angeles as well as in New York’s Carnegie Hall. In addition, he has performed on Black Entertainment Television. In Europe, some of the venues at which he has appeared include A- Trane in Berlin, Sounds in Brussels, The Jazz Garden in Budapest, Jazz Club in Florence, Der Regentenkammer in the Hague, Jumpin’ Jazz Ballroom in Milan, Studio Des Islettes in Paris, Reduta in Prague and The Gig in Zurich.

With his group, the Peter Curtis Quartet, he recently released his debut album Swing State, which is available at cdbaby.com and on itunes.

As a classical guitarist Peter has given recitals throughout the U.S. and Canada and was awarded the Andres Segovia memorial scholarship from the Banff Centre for the Arts. Some of his arrangements for classical guitar have been performed by guitarists as far abroad as Australia.

Peter is currently finishing writing the songs (both words and music) for a musical he is working on with Montreal writer Joel Yanofsky. The show is a romantic comedy set in and satirizing the academic world - a world rich with opportunities for satire. The music for the show recalls jazz versions of the standards by tin pan alley era songwriters but with updated musical and lyrical twists and turns.

He received his Bachelor of Music degree Magna Cum Laude from the Berklee College of Music, a Masters of Music degree from Yale University, and a Doctor of Music in Classical Guitar Performance and Literature with minor fields in Ethnomusicology and Music History from Indiana University.  

Dr. Curtis is a tenured professor of music at Riverside Community College in Riverside, California.