Peter Gambie studied music at Dartington College of Arts and at the University of Reading. His principal studies were composing and choral conducting; he also admits to a limited facility on piano and trombone. He studied composing under the dominating figure of Helen Glatz, who was a disciple of Gustav Holst. A pervasive Holstian legacy existed at Dartington during Peter’s formative years as a composer; Imogen Holst’s conducting style was also pervasive.

As an orchestral conductor, his repertoire is varied, including many symphonies by Haydn and Mozart; the concerti grossi of Bach and Vivaldi; and, due to the Dartington influence, many of Holst’s orchestral works.

Peter has a passion for music education. His early career was spent in Southampton, which included conducting the City’s symphonic wind band. During this time, they appeared several times at the South Bank, including performances of Holst’s Planets Suite, Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, and Walton’s Façade at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Much of Peter’s early work as a composer involved writing for synthesiser and electronic keyboard. Three of his pieces (Æolus, Nereus and Collage) have been performed at the South Bank in avant-garde series between 1984 and 1989. He has returned to a less experimental style within the last decade, as exemplified in Missa in Memoriam – an 8-part unaccompanied mass written for the Renaissance Choir. He has resurrected a number of “lost” works by composers such as Brumel, Josquin and Lassus, performing many of these in the city in which they were composed for the first time in hundreds of years.

Peter’s experience of choral repertoire is wide-ranging and includes the greatest challenge of Renaissance music, Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in Alium. He has conducted the first Anglo-Hungarian performance of this work with the world-class Budapest Monteverdi Choir and the Renaissance Choir. He has made appearances in many of Europe’s finest venues, including Notre-Dame in Paris; Budapest’s Royal Palace; cathedrals and monasteries in Lisbon, Budapest, Bari, Chartres; King’s College, Cambridge and Westminster Abbey.