Internationally performed composer Peter Dickson Lopez traces his artistic roots to a remarkably diverse lineage of influences shaped during his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, his tenure as a Tanglewood Fellowship Composer, and as recipient of the George Ladd Prix de Paris (1976–78). His eclectic mature style reflects early work with composers of sharply contrasting aesthetics and philosophies, including Joaquin Nin-Culmell, Andrew Imbrie, Edwin Dugger, Olly Wilson, and Earle Brown at UC Berkeley (1972–1978), and Ralph Shapey and Theodore Antoniou at Tanglewood (1979).
Equally formative was Lopez’s residency in Paris, where his immersion in contemporary European music—including performances and activities at IRCAM—proved pivotal to the development of his artistic voice. Central to Lopez’s creative philosophy is the principle that “Composition is performance on paper,” a conviction underscored by the expressive and performative nature of his works.
Recognized early in his career, Lopez received numerous awards and distinctions, including the George Ladd Prix de Paris and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize, and his music has been performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe. His major electroacoustic work The Ship of Death for male voice, chamber orchestra, and live electronics was originally released on 1750 Arch Records and reissued in 2021 in abbreviated form by PARMA Recordings on the Navona label, following its world premiere in 1979 by the Dutch Radio Chamber Orchestra under Ernest Bour.
Lopez’s catalogue spans experimental instrumental techniques (IFASIA for octet), electronics (Moment Pieces for extended piano), digital media (MISE-EN Series I–III), electroacoustics (The Ship of Death), and traditional orchestral writing (Visions des reflets et nocturnes for piano and string orchestra; Song of Thirteen Moons for orchestra; Aujourd’hui for double string orchestra). Recent premieres include performances by Sydney Contemporary Orchestra (2017, 2018), Ensemble MISE-EN in Seoul (2018), and the Lviv Philharmonic Society (2022).
Navona Records released Lopez’s MISE-EN Series II, Episode I for amplified string quartet and acousmatic sound in July 2023, and will release Pieces From A Distant Land for solo piano in January 2024. Acclaimed pianist Anna Kislitsyna recorded the work at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, Massachusetts, and pianist Jennifer Wang subsequently premiered it at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in June 2023 during the Laureate Gala Performances presented by Progressive Musicians and Sound Espressivo.
Lopez remains actively engaged in new projects across solo piano, orchestral, electroacoustic, vocal, and digital media. Current recording initiatives include Serenade from Song of Thirteen Moons, recorded by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Ostrava, Czech Republic) for release on Navona Records in 2024, as well as an album of solo piano and chamber works to be released on Petrichor Records, also in 2024.
MISE-EN, Series II
MIS-EN comprises an extended series of works, the first of which (Series I) was written for the Ensemble MIS-EN (Moon Young Ha, conductor) and first performed in Seoul, South Korea in 2018. The initial series was meant to reflect the aesthetic agenda of Ensemble MISE-EN, whose name roughly translates from Korean to English as meaning “Decorative Beauty”, an aesthetic agenda which is also closely aligned with the composer's artistic world view. “Decorative Beauty” thus defines the two divergent but complementary musical components with which these works are composed: “sound tapestry” (“beautiful”), and ornamentation (“decorative”).
To achieve this goal for each Series, I score for a given chamber ensemble in a way which would reflect a larger sonic landscape than what might be considered traditional chamber writing. Each ensemble of the MISE-EN Series consists of a standard, legacy, or traditional chamber ensemble with the addition of some form of electroacoustic extension including tape delay and echo, live processing of the ensemble acoustic instruments, digital manipulation of audio samples, and acousmatic audio tracks consisting of synthesized audio, sampled audio, and modulation of various components of that audio.
I scored Series I for (roughly) the "Pierrot" ensemble (of Schoenberg's Op. 21 Pierrot lunaire"), without the Sprechstimme but with added percussion; I scored Series II for amplified String Quartet. Additional MISE-EN Series I am working on include Series III for Amplified Piano Quartet and Electroacoustic Devices, Series IV for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Acousmatic Sound (à la Bartok's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion), and Series V for Extended Piano and Orchestra.
The Sirius String Quartet recorded MISE-EN Series II Episode I in early 2022, and this recording was released on the Navona record label of PARMA recordings. To simplify logistics, the live Acoustic Devices were prerecorded and mixed with the Acousmatic Soundtracks for the Sirius Quartet recording, and this was also done for the subsequent recording by the Lehner Quartet in 2024. In Series II, “decorative” and “beauty” find their musical analogs in tight, ornamental arabesques and soaring melodies, respectively.