Nova Scotian Peter Allen is known nationally as a concert pianist, composer, conductor and teacher.
As a concert pianist, Peter Allen is well known and loved by audiences in the Maritimes and throughout Canada for his captivating interpretations. He regularly performs solo recitals, concertos with orchestra, and chamber music. He has recorded two solo piano compact discs for CBC, one featuring some of his own very popular Bagatelles, another an all-Haydn disc, and numerous duo CD’s with flautist Patricia Creighton.
For many years he has been a regular performer with local concert presenters such as “Music on the Hill” Concert Series at UNB Fredericton,the New Brunswick Summer Music Festival, the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax, the Antigonish Performing Arts Series, the St. Cecilia Concert Series and the Kincardine Music Festival in Ontario.Peter has also performed multiple times with the PEI Symphony and Symphony New Brunswick as well as performing over a dozen concerto appearances with Symphony Nova Scotia. Peter has performed as solo recitalist in most communities in the Maritimes, to rave reviews and standing ovations.
Peter is currently Associate Professor of Piano at Dalhousie University's Fountain School of Performing Arts, a post he has held since 2005. He teaches piano, chamber music, orchestration, and also conducts the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra.
Before winning this position, Peter was Artist in Residence for four years at the University of New Brunswick’s Centre for the Performing Arts, at Fredericton. Before that, he taught piano at Acadia University and St. Xavier University.
As a composer, Peter has fulfilled many commissions for varying instrumentations. He has written orchestral music, a Suite for Clarinet and Orchestra, and the Hurricane Juan Piano Concerto. His chamber music includes a String Quartet, Scherzo for 4 celli, Hungarian Rhapsody for 2 pianos, Vaudeville for Piano (6 hands), and Black and Blues for Clarinet and piano. He has written 2 pieces for flute and piano, Waltz, and Scenes from Nova Scotia. Other works include music for band as well as for choir and other groups. Peter had the honour of being the only musical composition finalist for the 2006 N.S. Lieutenant Governor's Masterworks Award for his orchestral work "Variations on the Halifax Explosion", commissioned by the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra.
As a chamber musician, he has performed with many illustrious musicians throughout Canada and around the world. He was the faculty pianist at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts for five years prior to his return to Nova Scotia and performed there with an international roster of fabulous artists.
Peter is an Associate Professor of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC), a member of SOCAN and a member of The Living Composers Project.
Peter has a BMUS from Mount Allison University, and a Masters of Music in Performance from Yale University.
Wind Song (CBC, 2008)
Prelude for Solo Piano (Original Composition by Patrick Wu)
Information from the above links and collections of Centre for Musical Arts.
Last Updated: July 31, 2018 by Yiyang Shi
