Introspective, referential, and observant, the music of Peter S. Shin 신세종 strives in reach of others. His work investigates issues of social and national belonging, the co-opting and intermingling of disparate musical vernaculars, and the liminality between the two halves of his second-generation Korean-U.S. American identity.

The New York Times described him as “a composer to watch” and his music “entirely fresh and personal” following his premiere at Carnegie Hall. In its citation for the Charles Ives Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters observed that Peter “has already established an individual voice,” singling out Hyo, a work in which he reflects on his family’s immigration story from South Korea, exploring themes of genealogy and life’s impermanence against the backdrop of anti-Asian sentiment during the COVID-19 outbreak. Commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra during his time as their Sound Investment Composer, the Academy praised the work for “a sophisticated wide range of beautiful orchestral sounds that unfold within a strong narrative,” calling it “honest, clear, heartfelt, original music.”

Highlights include the release of Bits torn from words about the reclamation of his mother tongue on the vocal band Roomful of Teeth’s GRAMMY Award-winning album, Rough Magic (New Amsterdam Records); a performance of his electroacoustic dance work Screaming Shapes at the Walt Disney Concert Hall; an orchestral commission by John Adams and Deborah O’Grady for the Cabrillo Festival; the on-going “Hallyu Interventions” series which contends with the globalization of South Korean contemporary culture known as the hallyu wave via the sounds of K-Pop; and new works for Friction Quartet, piri master Park Chi-Wan for the Korean Experimental Music Festival, and an evening-length collaboration with Wild Up and Roomful of Teeth.

Peter has received both the Charles Ives Scholarship and Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Fulbright fellowship, and commissions from the Harvard University Fromm Music Foundation, American Composers Forum, and Chamber Music America. He has participated in programs by the orchestras of Minnesota, St. Louis, and Berkeley, and in the music festivals of Tanglewood and Aspen.

Peter has earned degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (B.M.), the University of Southern California (M.M.), the Yale School of Music (M.M.A.), and the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D.). A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Peter is a second-generation Korean-U.S. American and the son of South Korean immigrant parents who have called the U.S. home for over 30 years.