Dickinson, Peter (1934– )

English composer and teacher. He was professor at Keele University 1974–84. He studied at Cambridge University and at the Juilliard School, New York. While in the USA he met John Cage and Edgard Varèse; other influences have been Erik Satie and Igor Stravinsky.

Works Stage ballet Vitalitas (1959); music-theatre piece The Judas Tree (1965).

Orchestral Monologue for strings (1959), Transformations, Homage to Satie for orchestra (1970); piano concerto (1978–84), violin concerto (1986).

Vocal settings of poems by W H Auden, Dylan Thomas, Alan Porter, E E Cummings, and Emily Dickinson for voice and piano (1956–71); Mass of the Apocalypse for female chorus and four percussion (1984).

Other two string quartets; piano and organ music.