A FORMER student of Dame Gillian Weir and Allan Wicks (Organ), and Ronald Smith (Piano), Peter King was appointed Director of Music at Bath Abbey in 1986. Under his direction the Abbey Choir has visited Germany, Holland and France, and has released six CDs and broadcast on BBC TV and Radio 3. In 1997 Peter started a Girls’ Choir at Bath Abbey; it quickly established itself as one of the finest musical ensembles in Bath. Together with Nicolas Kynaston, Peter was responsible for the design and installation of the Abbey’s Klais Organ. His 4 CDs on the new instrument, Great European Organs, 51; Fantasie, German Romantic Organ Works; Baroquery and Mozart – works for solo organ have been highly acclaimed by the critics.

Peter was Assistant Chorus Director to the CBSO during all of Sir Simon Rattle’s reign as Musical Director and he still plays the organ regularly with the orchestra. He plays on Sir Simon Rattle’s EMI recordings of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Symphony of a Thousand. Recent work has included concerts all over Europe; highlights have included recitals at Ingolstadt Minster, Cologne Cathedral, Grote Sint Laurence Kerk, Alkmaar, an opening recital on the new organ in Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao, and Birmingham, where he played at the opening of the new Organ in Symphony Hall. Other engagements have included solo appearances with the CBSO (Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony) and The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields (Poulenc’s Organ Concerto). His recitals at the Bath Mozartfest have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Peter King holds the honorary degree of Doctor of Music from the University of Bath.

Work in 2007 included a trip to Aix-en-Provence with Bath Abbey Girls' Choir, return visits to Westminster Abbey, St John's College Cambridge, Truro Cathedral and Germany, Choral Evensong for BBC Radio 3, Choral Mattins for BBC Radio 4, recordings of works for Organ & Orchestra by Poulenc, Respighi and Rheinberger with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and a 2 CD set of Liszt's organ music. Plans for 2008 include the completion of the Liszt recording project and a CD of popular organ music, and concerts in Britain and Germany.