Dr. Perry Mears is Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at Missouri State University, where he coaches singers, collaborates with faculty and guest artists, and teaches song and opera lit. He performs across the country as a vocal accompanist, piano soloist, and chamber musician. Noted for his ability to play “with clarity and ease” (New York Concert Reviews), Dr. Mears’ recent performances have included a program of music by living American women at Carnegie Hall, numerous college and university appearances, collaborations with the Iowa Composers Forum, and tours with members of Luna Nova Music. Dr. Mears works regularly with composers, frequently premiering new works, including Mark Volker’s No Regrets with cellist Craig Hultgren, Susan LaBarr’s Little Black Book with mezzo-soprano Loralee Songer, Jonah Elrod’s Slow Emergencies for solo piano, and Robert Patterson’s quartet Freda’s Voice at the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival.

Dr. Mears received his DMA from the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at the University of Memphis, where his mentors included pianist Cathal Breslin, and sopranos Mary Wilson and Susan Owen-Leinert. Prior to his time in Memphis, Dr. Mears completed his MM in Collaborative Piano at the University of Maryland under the tutelage of Rita Sloan. He is an alumnus of the Aspen Music Festival and School where he was part of the prestigious Collaborative Artist Program and subsequently worked as an assistant to professor Sloan. His other musical teachers and mentors include Michael Wittenburg, David Horton, Andrea Dismukes, and Phillip Thomas.

Prior to teaching at MSU, Dr. Mears worked on music faculties and creative teams around the world, from the mountains of East Tennessee to Zwickau, Germany to small-town Iowa. His research and teaching focus on collaborative music making, the life and work of Algernon H. Lindo, and culturally-aware repertoire selection in the private studio. He has been a member of MTNA for over a dozen years and served in various capacities at the local and state levels in Tennessee and Iowa. In demand as a teacher, clinician, and adjudicator, Perry makes his home in Springfield, MO.

Dr. Mears’ Curriculum Vitae.