Notes on a diverse practice…

“We live in a world rife with division, where walls separate communities and style/genre boundaries separate artists. My hope is that by maintaining a diverse practice that draws on, and participates in, lots of different creative communities, my work can serve as an opportunity to draw people together and unify them. My work is people oriented, meaning I see the people involved in the creation and performance of a work as far more valuable than the work itself. I create in this way because I believe that all people are inherently valuable and that art and music are a necessary expression of that.”

S. D. G.

Originally from Manchester but now in Birmingham (UK), Peter is a composer/performer who’s diverse creative practice spans multiple disciplines and approaches from electronics and concert music through to experimental performance and improvisation.

Peter holds a Bachelors degree in Composition from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (RBC) where he studied with Howard Skempton, Andrew Hamilton, Seán Clancy and Andrew Toovey. Upon graduating in 2018 he won the RBC Composition Prize. He is now a visiting lecturer at RBC teaching electronic music and signal processing. Peter also is very passionate about community music and has worked on projects for young mental health inpatients, female carers, and aspiring composers.

Peter is one half of Open Union. An ambient experimental music duo that commissions and performs new open-ended and flexible works from other composers and collaborators. For more information about Open Union click here.

Peter’s artistic practice explores the grey area between musical structures/systems and intuition/improvisation. He is interested in the way these sometimes conflicting approaches can be combined in different ways to create unexpected and beautiful results. This tension often results in a feeling Peter describes as musical drift; the result of being caught between the human and the machine. He is also interested in the way in which systems can be used as mediums for storytelling and exploration. He has a background in computer programming and often codes custom interactive systems that he uses as the basis of new compositions or to iterate on ideas and material.

The aesthetic of his work is influenced by Celtic and Scandinavian folk music, field recordings, noise and the visceral sound of pure electronic waveforms.

Peter has performed as part of many festivals and projects including: Supersonic Festival, Ideas of Noise, Flatpack Film Festival, CODA, AMOK, Frontiers Festival, RBC International Women’s Day Festival and Quietest Sounds.

As a composer, Peter has collaborated with many incredible musicians, artists and venues including: New European Ensemble, Orgelpark, Decibel, Thallein Ensemble, Richard Baker, Fumiko Miyachi, Graeme Rose, Le Page Ensemble, Vivid Projects, Dauvit Alexander, Daniel Rosina, Roland Sutherland, Carnelian Quartet, CoMA Summer School, LEAP Ensemble and RBC Theatre Company.

Visiting Tutor – Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (2019 – present)

Primarily teaching classes for first study composition undergraduates with a focus on electronic music and signal processing.

Workshop Leader – Young Composer’s Project, RBC (2018 – 2020)

“The Young Composers Project (YCP) is a scheme set up by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and composers Kirsty Devaney and Joe Cutler, to support young creative music makers in the Midlands UK. We run courses and workshops where students work closely with professional and Conservatoire composers and musicians to develop new music.”
youngcomposersproject.com

Assistant Music Leader – Hidden Voices, MAC (2020 – 2021)

“Hidden Voices is a new music-inspired programme for women of all ages with caring responsibilities, who would like a chance to try something new.” Working with the autism group based at the Midlands Arts Centre.

Young Music Leader – Plugin Project, Quench Arts (2019)

“A free creative music-making project for young inpatients aged 12-25, focused on using music technology to achieve musical and wellbeing outcomes. The project aims to build participants’ self-esteem, help them connect with others and encourage them to express their feelings and emotions through music.”
quench-arts.co.uk