Peter was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral and read music at New College, Oxford. He studied composition with Alan Ridout and James Wood. He founded the Ryedale Festival in 1980 and along side his work as Director of Music at a large independent school, he has composed throughout his life. His choral Music has been performed extensively in the UK and abroad and has been recorded by the choirs of Christ Church and Corpus Christie College, Oxford, the choir of St Thomas on the Bourne and The Trinity Boys Choir for whom he was commisioned to write an opera based on Moonfleet. His music has been broadcast on Classic FM and recorded by Nicholas Walker, Sophie Langdon and the Holywell Ensemble. His Oratorio Shall life inherit was performed in Guildford Cathedral in 2010 and his large scale choral work Te Deum was performed in Chichester Cathedral by Southern Pro Musica and the Chichester Singers in 2016. In 2024 his Tombone Concerto was premiered by James Buckle, principal trombone of The Philharmonia Orchestra and his new childrens’ opera Hamelin was premiered in Guildford. Following a studio performance of his opera in Rosalind at the National Opera Studio in 2022, it was given its first pereformance at King’s College, London in 2026 with Mark Austin and the London Mozart Players. A second production followed only a few days later staged by Cambridge University Opera Society in Trinity College chapel.

More about Peter’s music can be found at guildownmusic.com