Peterson made his professional debut in 1958 as Pinkerton
with the NBC Touring Company in Amherst, Mass. His European debut was in 1960 in Spoleto, Italy.
Peterson was principal tenor of the Zürich Opera for 12 years and guest artist at opera houses in Paris, Milan,
Hamburg, Munich, Salzburg Festival, and
Vienna.
He left Europe in 1975 to return to his native Utah, where he founded and directed the state's first professional opera company,
the Utah Opera.
He sang with the San Francisco Opera and Houston Grand Opera (Otello) among others, and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1975, singing
Loge.
Glade Peterson died of cancer on April 21st, 1990.
