Peter Schubert came to Montreal from New York City, where he founded and directed Opera Uptown and The New Calliope Singers, a group renowned for its commitment to modern music during its fifteen-year career. That group presented over fifty premieres and released a critically acclaimed CD entitled "New Cantatas and Madrigals."
Since 1991, he has conducted the highly respected Montreal-based group,The Orpheus Singers. Under his direction, the group has placed as a finalist in the CBC's biennial national Competition for Amateur Choruses four times, winning first prize in the chamber chorus category and second prize in the contemporary category twice. The Orpheus Singers has presented premieres of several new Canadian works and participated in a CD of the musical compositions of Freidrich Nietzsche.
Peter Schubert studied conducting with Nadia Boulanger, Helmuth Rilling, Jacques-Louis Monod and David Gilbert and has been assistant to Gregg Smith. He has published an edition of Renaissance Noels as well as his own innovative arrangements of five popular Christmas carols with C.F. Peters.
Schubert holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Columbia University, which gives him a rich base on which to draw for his commentated concerts. Currently an Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, he is the author of two groundbreaking and highly regarded textbooks, Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style (Oxford University Press, 1999, 2007) and, with co-author C. Neidhofer, Baroque Counterpoint (Prentice-Hall, 2006).
Discography
- The Complete Magnificats of Pierre de la Rue, VivaVoce, (Naxos Early Music, 8.557896-97, 2007)
- "Bruiducoeur: prières des infidèles," Oratorio by Danielle Palardy Roger, VivaVoce (Ambiances magnétiques, AM 146, 2005)
- "Friedrich Nietzsche, Compositions of his Youth," Les Chanteurs d'Orphée (Albany Records , Troy 178, 1994), extracts.
- "Tenth Anniversary Anthology of New Choral Chamber Music," New Calliope Singers (Finnadar 90850-1, 1987).
- New Calliope Singers "New Cantatas and Madrigals," works by Babbitt, Druckman, Gideon and others (CRI , CD 638, 1993).
- William Mayer, "Voices from Lost Realms," New Calliope Singers (Albany Records , Troy 068, 1993), extracts.