About

Peter Fender – Conductor and Composer.

Acclaimed conductor Peter Fender shares his passion for music with audiences and orchestras in England and beyond. Combining deep musical sensitivity, a strong stage presence, great motivational and communication skills, and a fine sense of humour he is becoming more and more in demand. He is currently Musical Director of Philharmonia Britannica and the Angel Orchestra in London, Mid Sussex Sinfonia in Sussex, and Opera Nova in Kent. He has conducted a number of other orchestras and groups including the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Rochester Symphony Orchestra, I Maestri, the Chamber Academy Orchestra, Harmony Sinfonia, Kammerphilharmonie Graz, South London Chamber Concerts, Opera Heber, and the Maberliner Orchestra in Pistoia (Tuscany).

Peter’s musical career began as a violinist and violist. He has played principally with period instrument groups such as the Academy of Ancient Music, the London Classical Players, the Consort of Musicke and The Sixteen. He has been leader for many concerts, and directed a good number from the violin to boot. In 2006 his focus changed to conducting and since then he has studied with Michael Rose (MBE), Achim Holub, and Peter Stark (from the TV series ‘Maestro’). He has participated in master classes in both England and Austria.

In 2007 he formed the orchestra Philharmonia Britannica. One reason for this was to create an orchestra which would regularly work with other art forms. PB concerts have subsequently included mixing live orchestral music with actors, poets, dancers, painters, live video displays, and even the great classical comedian Rainer Hersch! Through this Peter has been looking to draw in people who wouldn’t be interested by a ‘straight’ classical concert, and also looking for some interesting syntheses and juxtapositions. He has also been looking to remove the ‘high brow’ from classical orchestral concerts. To this end he often gives short explanations of the music, interspersed with humorous comments about composers, aiming to make the music of interest to those who have never attended a classical concert – as well as those who are seasoned concert goers.

In addition to attempting to attract new audiences by mixing music with other art forms, Peter is setting up an annual children’s concert with Mid Sussex Sinfonia.  He is also looking into planning further educational events with other orchestras.

Memorable moments in Peter’s conducting career include:

•  The inaugural Philharmonia Britannica concert in London called The Genius of Mozart with the actor Jonathan Race playing the part of Mozart using a text created from Mozart’s letters
•  Playing Mahler 1 in the second half of a concert after the first half was given over to Rainer Hersch’s inimitable comedy (including a number of Mahler 1 jokes!)
•  Performing John Cage’s 4’33’’ with a full orchestra (despite all the inevitable jokes that follow this piece around Peter is keen that it is seen, at least in part, as an important statement by Cage on the impossibility of total silence)
•  The enormity of the percussion crescendo in the finale of Mahler 2 … the roof of St John’s Waterloo only just stayed on!
•  Sam Fisher’s politically charged video to Beethoven’s 5th symphony – Peter hadn’t seen the finished video until the actual performance and had to concentrate very hard not to be put off by all the amazing images flashing up in front of him!
•  The St John and St Matthew Passions at packed Good Friday concerts in St Paul’s Covent Garden. To play music of such immense depth in a fitting venue was truly memorable and humbling. Large scale concert hall performances just aren’t the same.
•  Rehearsing and playing Terry Riley’s In C with The Angel Orchestra. It was so good to get amateur musicians playing music in a totally different way from what they are used. Liberating! Many professionals would benefit from doing the same thing!
•  Conducting the Star Wars Suite in a full (and very hot) Darth Vader costume.
•  Five excellent performances of The Marriage of Figaro with Opera Nova in 2010.
•  Preparing and performing the English premiere of George Lloyd’s Cello Concerto in 2011. Bartholomew LaFollette was the soloist giving a sensitive and impassioned account of this fine work.
•  Conducting in the Villa Garzoni Gardens in Collodi in Tuscany (Collodi being also the nom de plume of the author who wrote Pinocchio and who lived in Collodi when young) with the Angel Orchestra and the Maberliner Orchestra from Pistoia.

As for the future, Peter is very much looking forward to Mahler 3 in December 2011, and then in 2012 to playing Laura Rossi’s score to the silent film The Battle of the Somme (from 1916), and George Lloyd’s 6th Symphony … and much more besides!

As a composer Peter has now written a number of orchestral works which he hopes are accessible to both players and audience but which are also compositionally interesting. The first CD of own orchestral music is available to purchase ... please visit the Sales page.  Scores are also available for hire.

Peter has a blues harmonica which he hopes to learn one day!