RICHARD PEAT - COMPOSER
'We all thought this was bursting with colour and highly effective. A marvellous work indeed - and all in 60 seconds!'
(Michelle Castalletti, Director of Oxford Festival of the Arts, Conductor, Composer - 2021)
'I first became aware of Richard Peat’s music about 18 years ago, and it was immediately apparent that he had a highly developed facility in composition and a unique voice. He was subsequently selected for performance through the John Armitage Memorial's anonymous annual Call for Music in 2002, 2005, 2012, 2018 and 2019. This makes him the most consistently successful composer via our Call for Music by some margin. I’m always thrilled when a score from Peat gets through the music panel, because I know that our audience will be challenged and delighted in equal measure. With this in mind, in 2010, when JAM celebrated its 10th anniversary, the Trustees decided to commission two pieces from developing composers, those who had shown the most promise over the previous decade, for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Peat was a unanimous choice of the Trustees. The resultant piece, Fiery the Angels was an outstanding piece and a great reward for our commission.'
(Edward Armitage, Chair of the John Armitage Memorial and JAM on the Marsh - 2019)
‘Richard has an important voice, allied with an excellent technique and no little gravitas, and a real ability in word setting. It has been a pleasure to conduct a number of his works . . . an important and vibrant voice.’
(Nicholas Cleobury, Conductor - 2019)
'I’m the King of the Castle leaves a powerful and disturbing impact. Richard Peat’s finely etched music follows on from Britten’s Turn of the Screw, placing us in a timeless world where human behaviours and latent cruelty emerge with insidious progress. The full drama of Susan Hill’s story is brilliantly heightened in this memorable and compelling opera.'
(Paul Max Edlin, Composer, Artistic Director Deal Festival and Director of Music Queen Mary University - 2019)
'I find Richard’s music is constantly challenging, never alienating and always rewarding to listen to - his most recent winning entry in JAM’s Call for Music, Sanctorum Cantuarienses, is a good example of this, cleverly setting three very different reflections on Canterbury Saints, and using space amongst the performers and around the building.'
(Edward Armitage, Chair of the John Armitage Memorial and JAM on the Marsh - 2019)
‘Some terrific arrangements and original carols here - a refreshing break from the usual seasonal offering. The girl choristers produce a beautiful, blended sound.’
(****BBC Music Magazine on An Ely Christmas - 2018)
‘Throughout the 23 songs there is nothing that is not worth hearing . . . conductor Sarah MacDonald has got the balance between familiar favourites and new discoveries just about right . . . Even if you have an extensive collection of Christmas music there is enough new material that is worth hearing to make this a safe recommendation.’
(Steven Whitehead, Crossrhythms on An Ely Christmas – 2018)
‘I am sure you will do very well for yourself in the musical world.’
(Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Composer and Master of the Queen's Music – 2011)
‘Richard Peat’s Fiery the Angels and Hannah Kendall’s Fundamental are both hugely accomplished works.’
(Simon Thomas, MusicOMH – 2010)
‘Richard Peat's Fiery the Angels set Timothy Knapman's apocalyptic poem for solo baritone and brass ensemble, with Giles Underwood delivering a vehement account of a text warning against ecological disaster.’
(George Hall, The Guardian – 2010)
‘Richard Peat's Winter Landscape, inspired by the Caspar David Friedrich picture of that name, resourcefully mirrors the elements of landscape painting in a piece largely for solo trumpet, with shifting perspectives provided by organ and choir (the latter intoning the carol Down in Yon Forest).’
(****Barry Millington, London Evening Standard – 2008)
'Richard Peat's An Intimation . . . a powerful and dissonant piece.’
(Robert Hugill, Music and Vision – 2004)