Peter Bandy has earned himself a reputation as a conductor of considerable experience with successful performances in diverse genres including choral, orchestral, opera and ballet music. Alongside his performing talents are years spent learning his craft as Music Director, Music Arranger, Chorus Master and Orchestra Manager.
Whilst studying at the University of Western Australia, Peter won a conducting audition with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra. In the same year he formed the Perth Oratorio Choir which performed all the major oratorios with professional orchestras.
A Western Australian Arts Council Grant enabled him to study conducting under Vilem Tausky at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Since then he has conducted most of the major symphony orchestras in Australia and New Zealand. Peter was Music Director of the Western Australian Gilbert and Sullivan Society; held the position of Chorus Master with Opera Australia and made his conducting debut with the company with The Gondoliers.
Peter’s association with the Australian Ballet as Resident Conductor has included touring with the company to New Zealand and conducting the Auckland Philharmonia in performances of Romeo and Juliet. Peter has also conducted the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Royal New Zealand Ballet, as well as the Christchurch Symphony.
Peter has inspired and taught generations of young musicians in his role as an educator. He was Music Director at St Hilda’s Anglican Girls’ School (Perth) and Ivanhoe Girl's Grammar School (Melbourne). He also ran conducting classes at the University of Melbourne for Music Education students, and conducting workshops for the Australian Band and Orchestra Directors Association.
Peter has adjudicated Music Festivals and Eisteddfods throughout Australia; in Perth, Bunbury, Canberra, Sydney, Traralgon, Warragul, Bendigo, Mt Gambier, Burnie, Ballarat (South Street) and Hamilton.
As Chief Conductor and Music Director of the Melbourne Youth Orchestra, the repertoire performed included the symphonies of Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Bruckner, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, Stravinsky's great ballets, Firebird, Petrushka and the Rite of Spring, and Pictures at an Exhibition by Moussorgsky/Ravel. This music gave a solid and thorough orchestral training to these young players, many of whom have gone on to a career as professional musicians.
Peter has been the Music Director of the Australian Conservatoire of Ballet, was Music Director of the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Society for two years, and Music Director of Sing Australia Hawthorn for four years. As Music Director of the Heidelberg Choral Society since 2011 he has presented a vast choral repertoire to sell out audiences.
