Donohoe, Peter (Howard)
Donohoe, Peter (Howard)
Donohoe, Peter (Howard), English pianist and conductor; b. Manchester, June 18, 1953. He began piano study at the age of four and later attended Chethan’s School of Music in Manchester (1964–71); at age 12, he made his debut as soloist in Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto in Manchester. After attending the Univ. of Leeds (1971–72), he studied at the Royal Manchester Coll. of Music (1972–73) and the Royal Northern Coll. of Music (1973–76) before completing his training with Loriod at the Paris Cons. (1976–77). In 1979 he made his first appearance at the London Promenade Concerts. After winning joint 2nd-prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1982, he pursued a global career as a soloist with orchs., a recitalist, and a chamber music player. As a conductor, he served as artistic director of the Northern Chamber Orch. (1984–87) and as founder-conductor of the Manchester Sinfonietta (from 1986). As a piano virtuoso, Donohoe has won accolades for both his fine performances of the standard repertoire and for his championship of an extensive modern repertoire, ranging from Stravinsky and Prokofiev to Messiaen and Muldowney
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire