Dr Peter Tregear OAM
Peter Tregear OAM is currently an adjunct Professor of the University of Adelaide and a Principal Fellow of the Melbourne Conservatorium. Initially trained as a flautist and pianist, he later undertook doctoral study in music at the University of Cambridge where he was appointed a lecturer and director of music, and took up professional singing and conducting. He has subsequently worked extensively across Australia and Europe in opera, choral, and concert music. Major performances include conducting the modern revival of Anna Amalia’s Erwin und Elmire for the Ekhof-Festival in Gotha, Germany, collaborating with the Kronos Quartet in the Australian premiere performances of Terry Riley’s Sun Rings as part of the Melbourne Festival, appearing with The Rolling Stones in their last Australian tour, conducting the Australian premiere of Ernst Krenek’s opera Jonny spielt auf, and more recently a new production of Brecht and Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Operatic roles he has performed include Colline, Benoit, & Alcindoro (La Bohème), Belcore (L’Elisir d’amore), Elmiro (Rossini’s Otello), Haly (L’Italiana in Algeri), Pluto (L'Orfeo), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) and Hans Foltz (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg).
In 2009 he was appointed Director of the Academy of Performing Arts at Monash University and, from 2012–2015 he served as Professor and Head of the ANU School of Music in Canberra. He was also the founding Chair of the Board of Trustees, of the Australian Music Foundation (Australia), which supports the further development of Australia's finest young musicians. In 2020 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to music education. He also writes regularly on music and arts-related topics for The Conversation, Limelight, and Australian Book Review. He is the author of Ernst Krenek and the Politics of Musical Style (2013), Enlightenment or Entitlement: Rethinking Tertiary Music Education (2014), and Fritz Hart: An English Musical Romantic at the Ends of Empire (2024), the latter co-authored with Anne-Marie Forbes.