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About Peter

Baltimore City

Described by the Baltimore Sun as having “a refined sense of melodic arcs and harmonic motion,” Peter Dayton “continually creates fresh and interesting sounds” (Opera News) in his compositions. His works have been performed around the world, primarily in the Americas and Europe. He hopes to engage with his community through concertizing and… more

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Project: MAY SHE | SHE MAY, A Chamber Opera in One Act (2016)

Single-Act Chamber Opera

Premiered on Apr. 25 in Baltimore, MD
By Tirzah Hawley (Gertrude)
Young Eun Lee (May)
Katharine Estes (Mabel)
Hanna Shin, Piano
Mari Takeda, Percussion
Aaron Thacker, Harpischord
Peter Dayton, Composer, Librettist, Conductor


This work was composed as part of the Opera Etudes collaboration program at the Peabody Institute, the premiere directed by Roger Brunyate. It concerns one of the pivotal relationships in the life of the famous writer Gertrude Stein. At the age of 20 (1900), a medical student at the Johns Hopkins University, Stein finds herself unhappy in her work and in the misogynistic hostility from her teachers and colleagues. She also finds herself attracted to one of the women in her circle of friends, May Bookstaver. In discovering a side of herself that she had not before acknowledged, Gertrude Stein undergoes an experience which will change the course of the rest of her life. Some of her earliest fictional writings are conspicuously drawn from this experience, including Q.E.D. (which addresses this same love affair) , Melanctha from Three Lives, and The Making of Americans. 

  • MAY SHE | SHE MAY: A Chamber Opera in One Act (Concert Performance)
    MAY SHE | SHE MAY: A Chamber Opera in One Act (2016) Music & Libretto by Peter Dayton 1. Narrazione 1 (“Radcliffe graduate Gertrude Stein…”) – Mabel 2. Scena 1 (“It is just unjust…”) – Gertrude & Mabel 3. Narrazione 2 (“May B, May Bookstaver…”) – Mabel 4. Scena 2 – (“Miss Stein, your morals…”) – May & Gertrude 5. Narrazione 3 (“She may wonder about May…”) – Mabel & Gertrude 6. Scena 3 (“When we first met…”) – Gertrude & Mabel 7. Narrazione 4 (“The rose is gripped by its thorns…”) – Mabel 8. Aria – (“May I explain? May I try, May, may I…”) – Gertrude 9. Narrazione 5 (“Now they do not…”) – Mabel 10a. Scena 4: Ariette Appaiate (“Dear May, dear me…”) – Gertrude & Mabel 10b. Scena 4 / Narrazione 6 (“Gertrude, you may…”) – May & Mabel 11. Scena 5 (“Come in, Gertrude…”) – May, Gertrude, Mabel 12.
  • MAY SHE | SHE MAY.jpg
    MAY SHE | SHE MAY.jpg
    Portrait of Gertrude Stein by Pablo Picasso (1906), Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • MAY SHE | SHE MAY - Finale
    The final scene from the world premiere of MAY SHE | SHE MAY, a one-act chamber opera about Gertrude Stein's first love affair, at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in 2016.
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    • Album: Notes to Loved Ones, Music for Strings and Piano (2018, Navona Records)

    Release Date: March 9, 2018

    Up-and-coming composer Peter Dayton makes his Navona Records debut with the release of Notes to Loved Ones, an album of works for piano and strings. Dayton’s style of composition is heavily influenced by people with whom he is fascinated and their works of art.

    These influences are the driving forces behind Notes to Loved Ones. Fantasy for viola and piano, is contemplative and collected. The composer, himself, likens its thematic content with “the continuity of a changing dream.” The string quartet Morceaux des Noces, is reflective of the Americana in early 20th century composition. Sonata “Los Dedicatorias,” for violin and piano is tentative, with the juxtaposition of the highest part of violin’s range against the warm, middle tones of the piano.

    Messiaen lovers will enjoy Variations for string quartet, which is reminiscent of Quatuor pour la fin du temp and the ethereal qualities within it. About the rhapsodic Sonata for cello and piano Dayton reflects: “I drew upon [Shostakovich’s] emotional geography of cattiness and sarcasm as well as tragedy and pensive calm.”

    Review by American Record Guide:

    "This album of works by Peter Dayton (born 1990) show a composer whose heart and care are palpable. His melodic sensibilities are at center stage. It’s a collection of works whose main motifs you’re going to walk away from a performance singing. These works are often inspired by people or pieces of art, and that makes this album all the more like a personal tribute. These works practically hum with the intensity of love and life, and they are presented in sequence in a way that makes the process of listening to them feel like looking through a beautiful photo album. These performances are emotional and dedicated, and Dayton is a young composers who has a voice that deserves to be heard often." (American Record Guide, June 2018)

    • Fantasy, for Viola & Piano
      Fantasy, for Viola and Piano Total duration ca. 4’30” Published 2009 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Single-movement work Premiered on Nov. 4, 2015 in Nashville, TN By Emma Dansak and Peter Dayton The Fantasy’s name adequately expresses its formal freedom: a harmonically lush exploration of different moods, colors, meters, and tempi. New material follows new material as if in a dream, though continuity is maintained through an arcing melodic gesture that builds itself into the fabric of the Fantasy. At the end, the Fantasy slowly recedes from the audience, fading away as if we are waking unwillingly from it.
    • Morceaux des Noces: I. Allegretto Fluente
      Morceaux des Noces, for String Quartet Total duration ca. 22’30” Published 2013/2014 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Three movement work I. Allegretto fluente II. Adagio semplice III. Andante amoroso – Allegro animato Premiered on Jul. 18, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio By Joshua Ulrich, Rachel Frankenfeld, Stephen Goist, Laura Jekel This quartet began as simply one “Morceau”, the first movement: a commission from my fellow Blair School of Music graduate Sarah Wood for her wedding in June of 2013. The first movement was composed in the fall of 2012, the second, dedicated to my parents and in honor of their nearly quarter-century marriage, was composed over the change of the year, and the final movement was composed in 2013.
    • Morceaux des Noces: II. Adagio Semplice
      Morceaux des Noces, for String Quartet Total duration ca. 22’30” Published 2013/2014 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Three movement work I. Allegretto fluente II. Adagio semplice III. Andante amoroso – Allegro animato Premiered on Jul. 18, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio By Joshua Ulrich, Rachel Frankenfeld, Stephen Goist, Laura Jekel This quartet began as simply one “Morceau”, the first movement: a commission from my fellow Blair School of Music graduate Sarah Wood for her wedding in June of 2013. The first movement was composed in the fall of 2012, the second, dedicated to my parents and in honor of their nearly quarter-century marriage, was composed over the change of the year, and the final movement was composed in 2013.
    • Morceaux des Noces: III. Andante amoroso
      Morceaux des Noces, for String Quartet Total duration ca. 22’30” Published 2013/2014 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Three movement work I. Allegretto fluente II. Adagio semplice III. Andante amoroso – Allegro animato Premiered on Jul. 18, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio By Joshua Ulrich, Rachel Frankenfeld, Stephen Goist, Laura Jekel This quartet began as simply one “Morceau”, the first movement: a commission from my fellow Blair School of Music graduate Sarah Wood for her wedding in June of 2013. The first movement was composed in the fall of 2012, the second, dedicated to my parents and in honor of their nearly quarter-century marriage, was composed over the change of the year, and the final movement was composed in 2013.
    • Violin Sonata "Los Dedicatorias": II. Vicente & Fernanda
      Sonata, “Los Dedicatorias,” for Violin and Piano Total duration ca. 18’30” Published 2016 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Four movement work I. Fernando de Szyszlo y Lila II. Vicente y Fernanda III. Manuela y Noelle IV. Adam George y Cristina Espejo Fernando de Szyszlo’s paintings have inspired me since 2011, generating four compositions and a lasting correspondence and friendship with the artist. After several years of contact with the esteemed Peruvian painter, I decided to accept the generous offer of hospitality extended to me, and I went down to Lima to visit the Szyszlo family. Over four days I met four generations of de Szyszlos, spending a substantial amount of time with each of the members of the family. The movements of this work each take as their musical material a transformation of the names of members of the Szyszlo family.
    • Violin Sonata "Los Dedicatorias": III. Manuella & Noelle
      Sonata, “Los Dedicatorias,” for Violin and Piano Total duration ca. 18’30” Published 2016 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Four movement work I. Fernando de Szyszlo y Lila II. Vicente y Fernanda III. Manuela y Noelle IV. Adam George y Cristina Espejo Fernando de Szyszlo’s paintings have inspired me since 2011, generating four compositions and a lasting correspondence and friendship with the artist. After several years of contact with the esteemed Peruvian painter, I decided to accept the generous offer of hospitality extended to me, and I went down to Lima to visit the Szyszlo family. Over four days I met four generations of de Szyszlos, spending a substantial amount of time with each of the members of the family. The movements of this work each take as their musical material a transformation of the names of members of the Szyszlo family.
    • Variations, for String Quartet
      Variations, for String Quartet Total duration ca. 11’30” Published 2012 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Single-movement work, continuous variations Premiered on Jul. 18, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio By Joshua Ulrich, Rachel Frankenfeld, Stephen Goist, Laura Jekel This quartet was composed in the spring of 2012, following an exchange program with the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Kreutzer Quartet. Rather than moving in a slow gradation of change away from the source material, each variation addresses the original theme through contrasting styles and treatments, often moving directly between polar opposites. The work was premiered at Grace Episcopal Church in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013 by members of the Price Hill String Quartet at a benefit concert for the marriage equality group Freedom to Marry Ohio.
    • Cello Sonata: I. (With urgency and forward motion)
      Sonata, for Violoncello and Piano Total duration ca. 9’ Published 2014 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Two movement, continuous work I. [with a sense of urgency and forward motion] II. Stark, Percussive Premiered on Jul. 18, 2015 in Valencia, Spain By Mayte García Atienza and Carlos Amat of NOMOS This Sonata was composed as part of an interdepartmental collaboration at the Peabody Institute in the fall of 2014. A work conceived to be performed either with bassoon or violoncello and piano, this Sonata explores extremes in emotional, and registral, territory in two movements. From catty, sarcastic repartees and high anxiety in the first movement, to the tragedy and introspective melancholy of the second, the work’s tenor came from a desire to compose a piece that explored emotional boundaries that I felt were underrepresented in the bassoon’s solo repertoire. The Sonata’s emotional geography also draws from my close contact with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata, Op.
    • Cello Sonata: II. Stark, percussive
      Sonata, for Violoncello and Piano Total duration ca. 9’ Published 2014 by Peter Dayton Music (ASCAP) Two movement, continuous work I. [with a sense of urgency and forward motion] II. Stark, Percussive Premiered on Jul. 18, 2015 in Valencia, Spain By Mayte García Atienza and Carlos Amat of NOMOS This Sonata was composed as part of an interdepartmental collaboration at the Peabody Institute in the fall of 2014. A work conceived to be performed either with bassoon or violoncello and piano, this Sonata explores extremes in emotional, and registral, territory in two movements. From catty, sarcastic repartees and high anxiety in the first movement, to the tragedy and introspective melancholy of the second, the work’s tenor came from a desire to compose a piece that explored emotional boundaries that I felt were underrepresented in the bassoon’s solo repertoire. The Sonata’s emotional geography also draws from my close contact with Dmitri Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata, Op.
    • Notes to Loved Ones Album Cover
      Notes to Loved Ones Album Cover
      Release Date: March 9, 2018
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