Under his direction, the internationally renowned NECWE performed by invitation at Carnegie Hall and the Arts Center of Canada, premiered numerous works every season, including those by Colgrass, Henze, and Schuller, as well as those recorded commercially. In 2009, he received NEC’s Louis and Adrienne Krasner Teaching Excellence Award.

His conducting students have won numerous competitions and fellowships and hold positions on important professional podiums in the United States, Europe, and China.

He served NEC and his colleagues for many years as Chair of the Faculty Senate and every year of his tenure as a member of numerous standing and ad hoc committees.

In addition to his work with wind ensembles, he has held the position of music director of the Glens Falls Symphony since 2000. He served on the staff of the Syracuse Symphony, conducted regular engagements with the Orquesta Nacional in Bogota, Colombia, and as a guest has appeared with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hamilton Philharmonic, the New Jersey Ballet, the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland, and the Pan-Pacific Band Festival in Beijing. He was a co-founder of the Musicisti Americani festival in Italy. He was nominated every year by regional critics for his work as a music director in Boston’s theaters, winning for his work on a nationally acclaimed production of Showboat.

With seven CDs on the Mode label, Peltz’s Xenakis recording with Aki Takahashi earned a Palm d’or, and his critically acclaimed recording with theremin artist Lydia Kavina features music they performed in the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival.

A committed educator, he was awarded the 1992 Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award from SUNY at Buffalo, taught at Harvard and Ithaca College, and served for twenty years as music director of the Luzerne (NY) Music Center. He has led honors bands and orchestras across the United States. He was a founding board member of the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation in Los Angeles.