Born in New York into a musical family, PETER GOLUB began playing the piano when he was six. Alongside his interest in music, in high school he developed a passion for the theatre, forming a troupe with a group of classmates and directing and acting in adventurous plays (Pinter, Ionesco, Beckett). His interest in music and theatre led to his ongoing involvement in dramatic music as his career travels between film, theatre, and concert music.
An undergraduate at Bennington College, he studied composition with Henry Brant, a master orchestrator and a pioneer in spatial music in the tradition of Charles Ives. In addition to his huge catagloue of works, Brant orchestrated film scores by Alex North, including A Streetcar Named Desire and Cleopatra. Golub's piano studies with Lionel Nowak led him both to traditional repertoire as well as 20th Century works and when continuing his studies to earn a Doctorate at the Yale School of Music he pursued composition with Toru Takemitsu and Jacob Druckman. His work and friendship with Takemitsu, who in addition to his concert works was the composer of a large body of film work, was pivotal in his development and continues to be an inspiration.
After Yale, Golub began working in the theatre in New York, composing numerous scores and working with some of the giants of the downtown theatre scene. As a member of Joseph Chaikin's Winter Project, he collaborated on several productions at La Mama. He also began a ten-year creative partnership with Charles Ludlam, becoming composer-in-residence at Ludlam's legendary Ridiculous Theatrical Company and writing scores for such works as The Mystery of Irma Vep, Galas, Salammbo, and The Artificial Jungle. He and Ludlam wrote a dramatic scene for actor, mezzo-soprano and orchestra, The Production of Mysteries, which was performed by Lukas Foss and the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He also worked on numerous shows with Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, including Shakespeare in the Park productions of Twelfth Night (with Gregory Hines, Michelle Pfieffer and Jeff Goldblum) and Othello (with Raul Julia and Christopher Walken). His ongoing collaboration with writer/director Moises Kaufman, includes scores for Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project. He is a member of Kaufman's Tectonic Theater Project. He also worked with the noted performance artist Ethyl Eichelberger, composing and performing in Ariadne Obnoxious at the Joyce Theater.
Recent Broadway credits include Come Back, Little Sheba (directed by Michael Pressman, with S. Epatha Merkersen, who was nominated for the 2008 Tony Award), Hedda Gabler (directed by Nicholas Marin, with Kate Burton), and Suddenly Last Summer (directed by Mark Brokaw, with Blythe Danner). He has written two musicals: Amphigorey (with story and designs by Edward Gorey; Drama Desk Nomination) and The Idiots Karamazov (book by Albert Innaurato and Christopher Durang, lyrics by Mr. Durang). He's also written scores for Playwrights Horizon, Manhattan Theater Club, Berkeley Rep, The Mark Taper Forum, the Huntington, Williamstown Theatre Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, American Repertory Theatre, and the American Music Theatre Festival. He's currently at work on a comic opera, Killing Hilda, with librettist David Grimm.
For a printable version (PDF) of all of Peter's credits, please click here.