Peter Wells has spent
many years turning the recorder from
a serene instrument of early music into
a striking voice of the most contemporary
sounds. The Irish Times called him "a
true and persuasive virtuoso".
The magazine "Music in New Zealand"
spoke of his performance as "extraordinarily
compelling" and it is in this aspect
of the unexpected or currently inconceivable
that he finds the greatest stimulus
for the performance of modern music
on this ancient instrument.
Having been playing
the recorder since the age of four,
Peter Wells has had many years to come
to intimate terms with his instrument.
He was awarded the Senior Prize of the
University of Auckland Conservatorium
of Music and went on to postgraduate
study in The Netherlands, aided by full
funding from the Netherlands government,
with the great Dutch virtuosi Marion
Verbruggen and Reine-Marie Verhagen
of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.
Since moving to the UK in 1995 he has
travelled extensively, performing in
countries as far-flung as Canada, The
Czech Republic and New Zealand. Although
he has long eschewed recording as being
unsympathetic to the theatrical excitement
of live performance, he has broadcast
many concert performances and has featured
on television soundtracks.
Peter Wells has maintained
a close connection with Ireland over
many years and has commissioned and
premiered new works for recorder by
a number of Irish composers, both as
a soloist and with the Dublin-based
ensemble Vox21 with whom he has worked
extensively, both in Ireland and abroad.
Peter Wells taught
recorder at university level for a number
of years and has tutored workshops in
solo and chamber music at home and abroad.
He has undertaken research in various
aspects of recorder music, both old
and new, and has been extensively published
in scholarly journals. He is also active
as a competition and festival adjudicator
and as an examiner of both A-level music
history, and University performance
courses. In addition he co-owns Cecilia
Editions, a publishing firm specialising
in choral music for church choirs, much
of which is the result of his own research
discoveries.
