aaron peterson
meet the artist
Award-winning composer and performer. Peterson started his music career as a classically trained trumpeter. He is now involved in projects that range from composing for short films + animation, producing music for indie-pop artists, to post-production sound.
Peterson scored his first animation short with ‘A Life in the Day’, a story about the 24-hour lifespan of a mayfly, which went on to win the Best Young Adult and Children’s Film at the 2016 Int’l Wildlife Film Festival. The project kickstarted his love for scoring to animation. In 2019, he began scoring for Portland-based animation house Vooks, a streaming app library that animates children’s books to help young readers. A handful of the 30 titles he has scored will be added to Netflix’s streaming platform in the Fall of 2022.
Peterson holds a Bachelor's of Music degree from Chicago College of Performing Arts in classical trumpet performance, and has studied under film composers and orchestrators like David Spear (Alaska, Ghostbusters) and Hummie Mann (Robinhood: Men in Tights, Dracula: Dead and Loving it). Writing and producing music primarily in his home studio and on his Kawai felt piano, Peterson’s interests outside of music include playing indoor soccer, renovating his Portland, Oregon home with his partner, artist Leah Vautar, and finding inspiration in other creatives in Portland.
Using piano as a foundation for composition, Peterson began a recording project under the alias 'aaronk' in late 2021, which has been featured in Spotify’s New Classical Releases as well as their Atmospheric Piano playlists. Having written two EP’s for this project, the inaugural album is slated for release in the Fall of 2022.
Peterson performs as the frontman vocalist, synthesizer player and trumpeter for Portland’s indie-pop outfit New Body Electric, which has published a handful of albums, EP’s and singles. This project, a duo of Peterson and drummer/guitarist Evan Smoker, has garnered more than 2 million streams on Spotify, and has landed in advertisements for brands like Haagen-Daz and Apple. Peterson remains active in pop music production for indie artists in the Portland area, with artists like Nosila and Princexa.
Select Clients
Netflix
Apple
Arby's
Haagen-Dazs
Durex
MTV
Billabong
Tillamook
Marmoset Music
Alibi Music Library