Peter Fagiola

Musician and music educator Peter Fagiola is a multi-instrumentalist who focuses on the North Indian pakhawaj, marimba, piano, and Western percussion. He is classically trained in both the Western and Eastern traditions and has been a music educator for the past 40 years.

Peter began his Indian studies in 1983 with American tabla player Ray Spiegel. Then in 1984 he started his Graduate studies at Cal Arts where he met his guru, Pandit Taranath Rao. With Taranathji he studied both tabla and pakhawaj, here in the US and in India. Peter has also studied pakhawaj with Manik Munde, tabla and pakhawaj repertoire with Sadanand Naimpalli, and has expanded his knowledge of compositional forms and tala through his work with Leonice Shinnemen.

In addition to studying and performing the classical pakhawaj repertoire, Peter also accompanies instrumentalist, vocalists and dancers in both the classical devotional settings, including the Warkari style of Maharashtra. Peter has been devoted to the art of pakhawaj since his early days and in addition to his ongoing traditional studies, he actively peruses the development of the pakhawaj voice in non-traditional settings through his own original music.