Peter B. Kay is a composer who combines classical traditions with contemporary techniques and modern folk & pop influences resulting in a voice that is both fresh and familiar. Composer-in-Residence for the Spartanburg Philharmonic, Kay also currently serves as the Philharmonic's Director of Artistic Operations. Kay’s orchestral works have been performed across the United States and globally by ensembles including the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Fayetteville (NC) Symphony Orchestra, Ebony Ensemble (Netherlands), Hendersonville (NC) Symphony Orchestra, and Fondazione UNIMI Milano (Italy). He has written and arranged several works for the Spartanburg Philharmonic including "Phoenix (Cathedral)" (2019), commemorating the reopening of Twichell Auditorium at Converse University, "to be Determined" (2021), celebrating the return to live music after the pandemic, and scores for several silent movies which are performed live alongside showings of the classic films. In April 2025, Kay’s sweeping orchestral work "The Moons,” was performed alongside Holst’s “The Planets," funded in part by an NEA Grants for Arts Project. In 2026, Kay is collaborating with Broadway lyricist and director Mark Waldrop to create a new, chamber orchestra work and narrative elevating the story of South Carolina Revolutionary War heroine Dicey Langston, commissioned by the Greenville (SC) Symphony Orchestra as a part of their 2025-2026 American Season celebrating America’s 250th birthday.
A proponent of new classical music, in 2014 Kay founded Treefalls, a non-profit organization dedicated to performing compositions by living, active composers – particularly premieres or music written by under-represented groups. Over seven years, the organization programmed more than a dozen world premiere performances (many more SC premieres); presented fourteen exclusively Treefalls concerts; partnered in multiple additional large-scale New Music events; held four local, regional, and international Calls for Scores; and commissioned over a dozen new works by local, living composers.
Kay received his undergraduate degree in music from Furman University where he studied with award-winning composer Mark Kilstofte. He went on to receive his graduate degrees from the University of South Carolina, where he studied with composers John Fitz Rogers, Samuel O. Douglas, and Reginald Bain with an emphasis in Music Composition and additional interests in Film Sound and Musical Humor studies.