Pierce was born in Alberta, Canada. An alumnus of Boston's Berklee College of Music, Pierce returned to his native Canada and began working with entertainment producers developing many successful projects including Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular in New York City featuring The Rockettes, Grey Cup half time shows for the Canadian Football League, television awards shows including Canada's Gemini Awards and The ACMA's in USA. His scores accompany fireworks spectacles in USA, Canada and Mexico, and theatrical Broadway musicals internationally. His extensive credits range from musical theater, sporting and cultural events to commercial recordings and live mega spectacles. As an orchestrator, Pierce has adapted scores for hit Broadway National Tours including Chicago; The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber Concert Tour, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd Street, Crazy for You, Dr. Dolittle, and Annie Get Your Gun. His compositions and musical direction are a mainstay of the Calgary Stampede's nightly Grandstand Show and Firework Symphony where each year he produces the performance, composes and conducts a new ninety-minute score performed by a cast of five hundred. The stars of Cirque du Soleil perform their acts to Pierce's compositions throughout the world. Clients include ABC, CBS, Madison Square Garden, 19 Entertainment, Macy's Parade, Arista Records, Tropicana Resorts, ClearChannel Europe, Disney, Bayer, Fashion Television, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Troika Entertainment, the Government of Canada, BMG and Universal Music. He regularly works in all major markets; New York, L.A., Nashville, Chicago, Toronto and Vancouver.
Vancouver 2010
Pierce was the director of music for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. His compositions were used as the underpinning of the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the daily medals presentations. Pierce produced the CD Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Opening Ceremony Commemorative Album which sold Gold, he also produced Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Closing Ceremony Commemorative Album. Each CD features artists from the ceremonies including Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, k-os, Michael Bublé, Sarah McLachlan, Nickelback, Alanis Morissette, Donald Sutherland, Garou, and opera singers Measha Brueggergosman and Ben Heppner. One pre-recorded segment featuring a performance of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings was conducted in the studio by ballet maestro Earl Stafford, otherwise Pierce conducted all of the recording orchestras as well as the opening ceremony live on-stage orchestra. Pierce utilized a unique approach to producing the recordings for the Games which employed over 300 musicians and provided a cross-genre score that included Canadian indigenous musicians, symphonic instrumentalists and players from the worlds of jazz, punk, rock, R&B, folk and country.
