Peter Yarde Martin is a London-based composer, musician and educator.
His compositions explore connections between the various musical worlds in which he works: experimental and familiar, old and new, sacred and secular. He has written for symphony orchestras and schoolchildren, gospel choirs and brass bands, church organs and electronics.
As band leader with Soul Sanctuary Gospel Choir, Peter plays keyboard and piano, and has written and arranged songs for all sorts of performances nationally and internationally. His settings of texts for Evensong – a Gospel Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, and Prices and Responses, have been broadcast on Radio 3’s Choral Evensong and are regularly used at Gospel Evensong at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, as well as elsewhere.
Peter has a passion for music education, teaching brass at various schools and music centres in North London, and as conductor of Barnet Youth Brass Band has worked to raise standards and explore new musical territories, including premiering several works and taking the band to the National Youth Brass Band Championships. His work All Under One Sky was performed in April 2025 at the Royal Albert Hall by about 1200 school-age musicians and singers from across Barnet, with Peter conducting.
Peter’s music has been played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, CHROMA, Britten Sinfonia, Contempoart Ensemble, Dr. K Sextet, Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra, Arnold Camerata. He has had performances at London’s major music venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall, as well as broadcasts on BBC TV and Radio, and Sky Arts TV.
He studied Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, winning several academic prizes at both institutions. He has undertaken several young composer schemes, including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Cambridge University Music Society, Cheltenham Music Festival and Making Music’s Adopt-a-Composer.
