Bio

Composer, conductor, and creative catalyst Peter Askim is Music Director of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director and Founder of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Conductor of the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, and Director of Orchestral Activities at North Carolina State University. Known for visionary programming, dynamic musicianship, and a deep commitment to amplifying
living composers, Askim bridges artistic innovation with mentorship and community engagement.

Through his leadership of the Raleigh Civic Orchestras, Askim has redefined the role of the university and community symphony, pioneering multimedia concert experiences that explore pressing social and environmental themes alongside local and historical narratives.  Since 2015, he has undertaken The Premiere Project: each concert has featured a world premiere of a new orchestral work—over 40 —on subjects including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the Voting Rights Act. Under his direction, the Raleigh Civic Orchestras have become models of creativity, and community-centered programming in higher education.

A passionate advocate for new music, he has commissioned and premiered works by Lisa Bielawa, Christopher Cerrone, Richard Danielpour, Brett Dean, Aaron Jay Kernis, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Allison Loggins-Hull, Jessica Meyer, Nico Muhly, Rufus Reid, Curtis Stewart, Christopher Theofanidis, Liliya Ugay, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Paul Wiancko, among others. He has collaborated with artists including the Kronos Quartet, Miranda Cuckson, Matt Haimovitz, Vijay Iyer, Jennifer Koh, Pamela Z, Sō Percussion, Nadia Sirota, and actor Harry Shearer. In 2022, he led the American premiere of Florence Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America.

In addition to his titled roles, Askim has conducted the American Composers Orchestra, Vermont Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and APROARTE Orchestra (Portugal), among others, and is praised as “an assured conductor… with much energy, which must be infectious to the orchestra” (Cultural Voice of North Carolina). His work has been featured on HBO and NPR, earning recognition for his collaboration with Richard Thompson on the World War II documentary The Cold Blue.

During the pandemic, he pioneered distance-collaboration premieres uniting musicians across continents, earning national recognition and support from New Music USA and the Women’s Philharmonic Association. Acclaimed by The Strad as “a modern master,” Askim’s compositions have been commissioned and performed by the Tokyo Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Stavanger Symphony, Cantus Ansambl Zagreb, ensembles
such as ETHEL and the Aizuri Quartet, and by cellist Jeffrey Zeigler.

Askim’s Next Festival of Emerging Artists, founded in 2013, is a trailblazing incubator for early-career string players, composers, and choreographers. It has supported more than 300 emerging artists and appeared at National Sawdust, Roulette, (le) Poisson Rouge, Kaufman Music Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and PS21, and was featured by the American Composers Orchestra’s 2023 SONiC Festival.

Askim has also served as Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, was a member of the Honolulu Symphony, and taught at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He holds doctoral degrees in performance and composition from the Yale School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin, and studied in Vienna with renowned double bass virtuoso Ludwig Streicher. Honors include the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music and recognition by the International Society of Bassists.

Learn more at www.peteraskim.com