Whether as arranger (“Cry of the Celts..an extraordinary arrangement, exuberant, extrovert” The Times) or composer (“Harrison's Dream is an absolute knockout” American Record Guide), Peter Graham's work has been celebrated by performers and audiences alike.
Born in Scotland (a native Lallans speaker) he read music at Edinburgh and London Universities (Goldsmiths' College) and following spells in publishing in New York and London he is currently Professor of Composition at the University of Salford in Greater Manchester, England.
His music is performed across the globe, from China, Japan, Korea and Singapore in the Far East to every major European country. Performers have included the Royal Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony and the White House Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra Brass, the Osaka Municipal Symphonic and United States Air Force Bands and the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra. As a former composer in residence to the Coldstream Guards Band he was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh and his music represented at a private Royal Command Performance in Windsor Castle.
Described by British Bandsman Magazine as “a spectacularly imaginative and innovative talent”, he attributes his interest in brass to lessons from his father at the local Salvation Army band in Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland. He has written for all levels of brass band, from educational concert music to the most demanding test-piece and is in the unique position of having had his music performed in every major brass band competition worldwide.
His music for brass has also been arranged for various ensembles, from fanfare bands of the Benelux countries to marching bands in the USA. The famous Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps' most successful show to date (Colors of Brass and Percussion) was built entirely around his compositions The Essence of Time and Montage.
Peter Graham's music has won many prizes, and in 2002 he became the first composer outside of the USA to win the American Bandmasters Association/Ostwald Award for Original Composition for Symphonic Winds.
His arrangements and orchestrations have been performed on most British TV and Radio stations and frequently on BBC TV's Songs of Praise. He has written for and collaborated with some of the world's leading performers including Karl Jenkins (as co-arranger and orchestrator on the EMI album This Land of Ours), Evelyn Glennie (as composer and orchestrator on the Grammy nominated BMG Classics/RCA album Reflected in Brass), The Beautiful South (brass orchestrator on the Universal/Mercury album Painting it Red) and Peter Gabriel. He was brass orchestrator on the Universal album Together, featuring the ISB and Lesley Garrett (nominated as Album of the Year at the 2009 Classical Brit Awards).
Peter Graham lives in Cheshire (and occasionally Scotland!) with his wife Janey, son Ryan and daughter Megan.