Peter Copley was born in Hove in 1962. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music and privately with the late Hans Keller, a Polish Government Scholarship took him to the Akademia Muzyczna in Krakow. This proved to be the beginning of an enduring connection with Eastern Europe, from where he has received many significant commissions and first performances.
His orchestral works include a Violin Concerto, first performed in the 1997 Lewes and Brighton Festivals, and a Concerto for Guitar and String Orchestra, commissioned by the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra and first performed with soloist Richard Durrant in Hove Town Hall in 1993.
1998 saw the first performance of Purgations, a multi-media project written in collaboration with Mark C. Hewitt (text) and Tom Walker (images), funded by the Arts Council. Peter Copley's music, composed for string sextet, received further performances in the 1998 Brighton Festival.
Recent works include Farnham Fantasia for strings, commissioned by the Farnham Festival and recently performed in both the Royal Festival Hall and the Royal Albert Hall, and the Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Percussion which received its acclaimed first performance by John Wallace and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth in the orchestra's 75th Birthday Weekend.
1999 commissions included Miniature Overture written for the Schubert Ensemble, for their Chamber Music 2000 project, released on CD in February 2003 by NMC Recordings, and Unfrozen Architecture for Southern Winds. In 2001 Peter completed A City Awakes, a large scale work in one movement, commissioned by the Brighton & Hove Philharmonic Society as a celebration of their return to the refurbished Brighton Dome and of Brighton & Hove's elevation to city status. The work was premièred on October 20th 2002.
Future compositions include a work for narrator and orchestra, commissioned by the Sussex Symphony Orchestra, and a piece for eight cellos, commissioned by the Romanian ensemble 'Cellissimus'.
Contact Details:
Address: 93 Goldstone Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 3RG
Telephone: 01273 208851
Email: peter@pcopley38.fsnet.co.uk