Peter Thomas Farris was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 2016. In the summer of 2023, at the age of 7, Peter began his violin studies with Takuya Horiuchi. In Spring 2024, he achieved High Honors in the New Jersey Music Teachers Association Spring Recital. For the Winter 2024 season, Peter was appointed Concertmaster of the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra’s Camerata Strings. In the current Spring 2025 season, he is a member of both PRYSM Young Artists within the PYOMI Institute and the Concert Orchestra at the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra. In Winter 2024, Peter recorded the Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor, which earned 2nd Prize in the 2025 Charleston New Year’s Music Competition and 3rd Place in the Concerto Category at the 2025 Camerata Artists International Competition. In Summer 2024, Peter enjoyed making music with friends at the Suzuki Institutes Camp in Ithaca, NY and now looks forward to the Symphony Orchestra summer program at the Philadelphia International Music Festival in summer 2025.
Besides his teacher Takuya Horiuchi and tutor Luciana Velez, Peter’s favorite violinists are Christian Li and Augustin Hadelich. Peter’s musical journey and curiosity extends beyond the violin. He also plays the piano and erhu, a classical Chinese 2-string instrument. In his free time, Peter enjoys playing hide-and-seek tag with friends, biking with his brother Mark, cracking math puzzles, and leisurely reading.
You can find Peter’s 2025 New Year’s Music Competition violin performance here.
Watch Peter Thomas Farris perform Air Varie No. 5 by Charles Dancla on the violin for the 2025 Classical Music Competition as part of the Charleston International Music Competition.