About me.

Linking community, music, and the human perspective, Brett Petrykowski is a violist and music educator based in Baltimore, Maryland. Brett is currently pursuing an M.M. in Viola Performance and Pedagogy at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music in 2022 with a Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance. His primary teachers are Dr. Diedre Buckley, Professor Sally Chisholm, and Professor Victoria Chiang.

As an avid orchestral and chamber musician, Brett has held positions in the Perlman Piano Quartet, Tashi Trio, and as principal violist of the UW Madison Symphony Orchestra. Throughout his career, he worked extensively within his local community and on tours in Italy and Peru.  He has performed works from a multitude of living composers as well as many from the traditional canon.

In addition to his ensemble experience, Brett has received the Arnold Steinhardt Excellence in Viola Performance award, and the Rudolf Kolisch Gold Medal from the Mead Witter School of Music Viola Concerto Competition with his performance of the Bartok Viola Concerto. He has participated in masterclasses with Nobuko Imai, Steve Tenenbaum, Hank Dutt, Sam Rhodes, Jordan Bak, the Jasper String Quartet, and DeCoda Ensemble.

Brett has worked closely with the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra and its sister program Music Makers, where he both taught and served on the administration team for 3 years. As a partner of Music Makers, he worked closely within the program on a mission to provide quality instruments, music, and instruction to a diverse group of underserved students, allowing them equal opportunity to engage with the classical music world.

While education serves as a large part of his career, he is focused on uplifting underrepresented composers who are living today. Currently, Brett is focused on creating a chamber collective that serves as an avenue to introduce and educate the public on current music being written through interactive performances in community spaces.