Underhill, Peter

Peter Underhill

Honorable mention on the Composition competition “The contemporary piano 2017” for his work for piano “Midnight Dances”

Peter Underhill is a composer and pianist from Spokane, Washington. He is currently finishing his undergraduate degree at Whitworth University where he is a double-major in Music Theory & Composition with Professor Brent Edstrom and Piano Performance with Dr. Judith Schoepflin. Though Peter largely writes for piano and chamber ensembles, his latest orchestral work, Night Tour, won the composition division of the Whitworth Concerto Competition and will be performed by the Whitworth Symphony Orchestra in May of 2017.

Midnight Dances

Midnight Dances is inspired by a phrase from one of the best-loved classics of children’s literature – The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. In composing this work, I wanted to write a piece that incorporated the captivating rhythmic drive that I so admire in my favorite contemporary works for piano. The piece opens with a brief atmospheric introduction before launching into the first dance section. After a flourish, this dance winds down and gives way to a more effusive, stately second theme. The first dance recommences, but it melds into an ostinato figure and a quasi-canon that reprises the second theme. After a final climax, the first dance gradually winds down, leading back into the atmospheric tones that opened the work.