I have developed a variety of skills to help me be a better composer: play piano, conduct, write lyrics, orchestrate, produce, and perform. Music is nothing if it is not shared. My favorite thing is to connect with an audience and with you the listener. I also want to write music that is fun and engaging for the performer.
Music has always excited my imagination. I have memories of hearing my dad play the flute in the upstairs room, my mom blaring Herb Alpert on the stereo, my sister playing guitar and singing softly late at night. Music has power, softness, and great variety. It is the ideal medium to express the spiritual and undefinable.
Growing, learning and progressing as an artist motivates me. Day after day, year after year I engage in the practice of writing music, hoping that someday it will reach someone and speak to them. My goal now is to incorporate all the varied influences in my life into a unified expression.
Bio
Peter B. Allen is a composer, pianist, lyricist, conductor, and producer. Peter studied music at Principia College, the Eastman School of Music, and the Aspen Music Festival and Dick Groves School of Music. Peter began his career in 1981 as a freelance pianist for playing for ballet classes, restaurants, weddings, parties and in bands. He has worked as a musician in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Geneva, and Warsaw. Peter’s recordings in order are: Still with Thee (1996), The Greatest Thing In the World, (1998) Pilgrim On Earth (2000), Solitary Freedom (2002), Onward (2006), and Christmas Present (2007), The Song That Ne’er Shall Cease (2020) and Quiet (2021). Peter has published over 60 vocal solos and several hymns. His current projects include opera and musicals. Peter, his wife Bess and their children David and Ruth will be living in St. Louis, starting in the summer of 2022. They practice regenerative agriculture at Emden Farms in Northeastern Missouri.