James Touchi-Peters
[3] Touchi-Peters was also the founder of the now-defunct Netropolitan Club,[4] an online social network for the highly accomplished that received worldwide media attention when it launched in the fall of 2014;[5] it folded after three months.
[7] He spent the following summer in Europe studying conducting with Vanco Cavdarski, music director of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, where his uncle was the principal trombonist.
[2] Touchi-Peters attended the University of Miami School of Music specifically to study conducting with Frederick Fennell, who had previously mentored his cousin, percussionist Mitchell Peters.
[11] Touchi-Peters left the Thunder Bay Symphony after only one season: "I suddenly realized I was going to spend the rest of my life conducting the same two-hundred pieces over and over again, and that realization scared the crap out of me.
To support himself in lean times he began spinning dance records in LA nightclubs (he lied about his experience to get his first job), and eventually became quite well-known and in demand locally as a deejay.
[2] In January 1992, a friend in Minneapolis put Touchi-Peters in touch with the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, which needed an interim conductor while they searched for a permanent replacement.
The Minnesota Philharmonic was the first, and at that time the only, symphony orchestra in the United States formally chartered to represent the gay/lesbian community;[13] and Touchi-Peters, who is not gay, was told that he would not be considered for the permanent position for that reason.
His nine-year tenure with the Minnesota Philharmonic was marked by almost universally-positive reviews from music critics and consistently sold-out performances, and the programs became known for his insightful and often humorous narrations from the stage.
According to his record company, Nights in Manhattan makes Touchi-Peters the first established orchestra conductor in music history to sing on and produce a legitimate pop album.
[3] On September 16, 2014, Touchi-Peters unveiled the Netropolitan Club, an exclusive online social network which he created, according to its former sales website, for "affluent and accomplished individuals worldwide to associate in a private and secure manner.
The service immediately received major international attention from both traditional and social media, with CNN,[5] the Los Angeles Times[19] and other news outlets dubbing it "Facebook for rich people" and Jimmy Fallon devoting a comedic bit to it on "The Tonight Show", complete with fake screen shots.
[8] He is one of only two non-gay persons ever to serve as grand marshal of the Twin Cities Gay Pride Parade (the other being television news anchor Robyne Robinson).
