Charles Peck

Charles Peck leaning on a piano.
Faculty

Music - Composition (BM)

Charles Peck has been teaching at UArts for six years, teaching classes that span composition, electronic music, history and theory. His chamber music and orchestral works have been performed internationally at a range of venues, including Carnegie Hall, Symphony Center in Chicago and the Beijing Modern Music Festival.

Biography

With early training as a classical musician and a passion for technology and new sounds, Peck was drawn to composition from a young age. His interests led to degrees in Composition and Technology from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio; Drexel University, Philadelphia; and, most recently, Cornell University, where he will be completing his doctoral studies this year. 

A frequent traveler, Peck has been in residence at many programs and festivals, including the Aspen, Cabrillo and American Music Festivals; the Minnesota Orchestra's Composer Institute, Minneapolis; the Copland House, Cortlandt, New York; and the Mizzou International Composers Festival, Columbia, Missouri, among others. Peck continues to be inspired by adventurous listening and analysis and engaging with a wide range of genres.

Experience

  • Peck’s music has been performed frequently, by ensembles including 

    • Alarm Will Sound, Rochester, New York;

    • Albany Symphony, New York; 

    • Columbus Symphony, Ohio;

    • JACK Quartet; 

    • Ji Hye Jung;

    • Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles;

    • Minnesota Orchestra, Minneapolis; and

    • Sandbox Percussion.

  • Recent projects include a chamber orchestra piece titled “Vinyl,” which imitates the skips and pitch warping of vinyl records. The piece, praised as “substantial, personal, genuine” (Roger Shapiro Fund for New Music), was written for Alarm Will Sound and the Mizzou International Composers Festival. It has since been awarded an ASCAP Morton Gould Award and has been performed at the Beijing Modern Music Festival and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. 

  • Other recent pieces include a sextet titled “Kindling,” commissioned by the Boston New Music Initiative, and a piano quartet called “Sunburst,” commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony as part of its First Music program. “Kindling” has been performed by a number of groups, including Catchfire Collective, Charles Ives Concert Series, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Contemporaneous. “Sunburst,” after receiving its premiere at Carnegie Hall, was  named a winner of the Left Coast Composition Competition, the Salvatore Martirano Composition Award, and the NFMC Beyer Composition Award, and has received its Australian premiere by Forest Collective.

Explore Charles Peck’s website.

Work

Alarm Will Sound · Vinyl

Awards & Accolades

  • Recently, Peck has received commissions from the 

    • Barlow Endowment

    • Orchestra of St. Luke’s, 

    • McKnight Foundation and 

    • Bergamot Quartet. 

  • He has been named a winner of composition competitions with the

    • ASCAP Morton Gould Awards;

    • Boston New Music Initiative; 

    • Lake George Music Festival;

    • New York Youth Symphony;

    • Red Note New Music Festival; and 

    • Symphony in C, among others.