Born in Dunedin, Peter graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in Performance Voice. Having also trained as an organist, he has held appointments as Organ Scholar and Sub-Organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin; Sub-Organist at Christ Church Cathedral, Christchurch and Assistant Director of Music at the Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul.
As an organist, Peter has played at St. Paul's Cathedral, London; Durham Cathedral; Ely Cathedral; York Minster; Hexham Abbey and St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. In 1992 he was appointed a Tenor Lay Clerk at Ely Cathedral in England and was a member of the music staff at the King's School, Ely. Whilst in the United Kingdom, he studied singing privately with Nicholas Powell of the Royal Northern College of Music and Drama and was a member of the Cambridge University Chamber Choir, the Britten-Pears Chamber Choir and the early music group Musica Contexta.
Upon his return to New Zealand in 1994, Peter and his wife Lynda settled initially in Nelson where he taught piano and singing at the Nelson School of Music. In 1996 Peter was appointed Director of Music at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Wellington and quickly developed the choir into one of the leading cathedral choirs in New Zealand. Despite a passion for church music, Peter did not entirely restrict himself to that field. He was also Assistant Conductor of the 1998 New Zealand International Festival of the Arts Chamber Choir and in the same year was Chorus Master for the première performance of NZ composer Jack Body's opera Alley. In 1999 Peter was appointed Musical Director of the Wellington Youth Choir.
Peter, a former member of the celebrated New Zealand National Youth Choir for nine years, is the first to have also served as Assistant to the Musical Director of the TOWER New Zealand Youth Choir, completing a 2-year term in 2001. In the same period he was a member of the semi-professional chamber choir TOWER Voices New Zealand, and was Guest Conductor on their 1999 tour to Noumea. The choral skills which he developed as a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir are being passed on to all he now trains, thereby ensuring a line of continuity.
As a singer, Peter was closely involved with the early music group The Tudor Consort and the specialist vocal ensemble Baroque Voices. As a tenor soloist, Peter has performed nationally and in the UK with many choirs and orchestras in music ranging in styles from Monteverdi to Bach & Handel and 20th century composers such as Benjamin Britten, Stravinsky, Poulenc and Gareth Farr.
In 2000, Peter was appointed Director of Music at the Auckland Cathedral of The Holy Trinity. In addition to this he teaches singing, remains active as a tenor soloist, and is a Music Examiner for the International Examinations Board Trinity College London. He is currently engaged in PhD research on the tradition of Anglican Cathedral worship in New Zealand and the effects of liturgical reform.
Peter was appointed an Advisor to the Royal School of Church Music in New Zealand in 2003 and Deputy Chair of the Auckland branch in 2006. Iin 2004 he was appointed a Lay Canon on the Cathedral’s Chapter.