Peter B. Kay

General Manager | Composer in Residence

peter@spartanburgphilharmonic.org
864.278.9668

Peter B. Kay first joined the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic (now the Spartanburg Philharmonic) in 1997 as a member of the double bass section, and he performed regularly with the orchestra for 6 years. In 2006, he hung up his bow, and focused his graduate studies on musical composition. He joined the staff of the Philharmonic in February 2015 as Director of Operations and Personnel Manager. In the first few years on staff, his duties included at times: marketing director, graphic designer, website maintenance, composing/arranging, and artistic direction of the Espresso chamber music series and the Music Sandwiched In series. By the 2017-2018 season, he became General Manager and Composer in Residence.

A Spartanburg native, Peter is a District 7 alumnus with close ties to the music community in town. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Furman University where he studied with Mark Kilstofte (composition) and Tim Easter (double bass). He went on to complete his Masters in Music and Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC where he studied with composers John Fitz Rogers and Reginald Bain. While at USC, he was fortunate to be the graduate assistant for the Southern Exposure New Music Series during which time it received the Chamber Music America / ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.

In 2004, the Philharmonic first performed one of Peter’s works at their annual youth concert - his Masters thesis, Beowulf: A Musical Tale, with text translated by Natalie Grinnell (Wofford College) and narration by Mark Ferguson (Wofford College). In 2019, the Philharmonic commissioned and premiered Phoenix (Cathedral), commemorating the reopening of Twichell Auditorium in the Zimmerli Performance Center, and performed his original Christmas Suite for chamber orchestra, which had a repeat performance in 2020. In 2021, the Philharmonic commissioned and premiered Dissent (Notorious), a concerto for electric cello, timpani, and strings inspired by the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and later that year celebrated the return to Twichell Auditorium with his work, to be Determined. Most recently, the Philharmonic premiered his piece Fanfare, celebrating the appointment of the orchestra’s new Music Director, John Young Shik Concklin. His original works and arrangements have also been a regular feature of the Espresso Series chamber concerts since 2015.

In addition to his musical background, Peter is a freelance graphic designer and an avid cyclist. While living in Charlotte, NC, he was a professional cycling coach with TotalCyclist, and he has been a competitive racer since 2002, racing for the Globalbike National Elite Team from 2011-2015.