Peter Kramer (b.1989) is a composer, keyboardist and educator based in New York City. He is the featured composer and performer, alongside violinist Pala Garcia, on a forthcoming portrait album of violin and piano works projected for release on New Focus Recordings in 2025. Their project is the recipient of a 2021 recording grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Additionally, he will be releasing an album of solos, duos and trios for winds, strings, piano and guitar in 2025. His music was recently featured on the Northwestern University New Music Conference NUNC! (2023) where he performed his composition entitled Copse of Trees with bassoonist Ben Roidl-Ward. Peter was awarded the Kanter Prize (2020) by the Mivos Quartet for his work Three Fragments, and is also the recipient of the Walter E. Aschaffenburg Prize in Composition, the Earl L. Russel Award in Historical Performance, and the Shansi Prize from the Oberlin Conservatory. He was invited to join the Loretto Project as a composer fellow in its 2017 cohort, and has also spent time at the Banff Center as an artist in residence. Apart from composition, Peter is passionate about teaching private piano lessons in New York City and tutoring English and Music at Lehman College (CUNY). He has been playing guitar since the age of ten with a focus on American blues and folk music.

Originally from Portland, Oregon Peter graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory with a double major in Composition and Harpsichord Performance, and from the CUNY Graduate Center with a PhD in Music Composition. Since 2016 he has taught music courses at Baruch College (CUNY). Most recently, he has taught at the South Western University of Finance and Economics (Chengdu, China) during the fall 2024 semester. Peter has also taught at Born Star Training Program NYC, The Hoffman Center for The Arts, and at Circle Circle Arts. His principal teachers include Dr. Marshall Tuttle, Lewis Nielson, Jason Eckardt, Suzanne Farrin and Webb William Wiggins.