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Peter Leech was appointed conductor of Aylesbury Choral Society in 2004. He is also conductor of the Bristol Bach Choir and Taunton Camerata. He enjoys a busy career in the UK and abroad as a guest conductor, lecturer, broadcaster, musicologist and workshop leader, in addition to freelance work as a singer, continuo player and percussionist.
A graduate of the Elder Conservatorium of Music (Adelaide) and Victorian College of the Arts (Melbourne), Peter arrived in the UK from Australia in 1996 to undertake post-graduate studies at Anglia University (Cambridge) where he completed his doctoral thesis, 'Music and Musicians of the Stuart Catholic Courts,
1660-1718' in 2004. During the period of his post-graduate study Peter lectured at Colchester Institute, performed regularly at the Suffolk Villages Festival and sang with many choral ensembles including Cambridge Taverner Choir and The Choir of St.George's Hanover Square. He also sang as a regular deputy at St.Margaret's Westminster, St.Mary le Bow and other London churches.
In the UK Peter has conducted the Cathedral Singers of Christ Church, Oxford, the City of Oxford Choir, Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus, Esterhazy Chamber Choir and Orchestra, Chandos Chamber Choir, Frideswide Ensemble, Wells Tallis Choristers, Canzona, The Delightful Companions, Yeovil Chamber Choir, Bristol Philharmonic Orchestra, Stowe Opera Orchestra and Chameleon Arts Orchestra. He is in considerable demand as a workshop leader within the Early Music Fora network and in the wider musical community where guest directorships have included Harpenden Choral Society, Cheltenham Choral Society, Nailsea Choral Society and Wyncantores.
In 2003 he won first prize at the Mariele Ventre International Competition for Choral Conductors (Bologna), including the Silver Cup of the Italian Republic for an outstanding cultural achievement, and has since returned to Italy to direct Coro Euridice di Bologna at the 2005 Ravenna Festival. He continues to be involved with the Fondazione Mariele Ventre in Bologna.
Peter's scholarly activities include contributions to the Revised New Grove (2000), regular reviews for Early Music (Oxford University Press) and specialisation in English seventeenth-century Catholic music, art and literature. His critical edition of recently discovered keyboard music by the Jesuit composer Antoine Selosse (1621-87) will be published by Edition HH in 2008. Peter was also recently appointed Chairman of the South West Early Music Forum, under the auspices of which he hopes to devote considerable time to preparing inspiring and educational Early Music projects.
Peter's discography includes music by members of the Bach Family, Spanish Renaissance masters and Russian Orthodox music, as well as world premiere recordings of works by numerous British composers, the American composer Edward Collins ('Hymn to the Earth', RSNO/Alsop, 2003) and the Australian composer Martin Wesley-Smith, whose vocal drama 'Quito', directed by Peter with The Song Company (Sydney, 1996), received numerous Classical Music awards. Peter's concert activity has included premiere performances of works by Samuel Wesley, Innocenzo Fede, Thomas Linley Junior, Ian Higginson, Richard Pantcheff, Scott McIntyre, Jonathan Lloyd, Tarik O'Regan and Michael Stimpson.
Find out more at www.cappellafede.com.
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