Peress, Maurice (1930– )

US conductor and trumpeter. He studied at Mannes College, New York, and was assistant to Leonard Bernstein from 1961; he conducted revivals of Candide in Los Angeles (1966) and West Side Story in New York (1968). He was music director of the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra (1962–75), the Austin Symphony Orchestra (1970–73), and the Kansas Philharmonic Orchestra (1974–80). He was a guest conductor in Vienna, Jerusalem, and Mexico City. He led the first performance of Bernstein's Mass at the opening of Kennedy Centre, Washington DC (1971), and at the Vienna Staatsoper (1981). In 1984 he conducted performances of music by Duke Ellington and Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue) at New York. He taught Queen's College, New York.