Pete Wilson

Photos credits: 1. Green, Photographer Unknown 2. Church, James Poke 3. Blue, Photographer Unknown 4. Stern, Mel

​For the past thirty years Pete has balanced an academic career with playing bass guitar in a variety of pop and classical settings.

He studied at Trinity College (London) and gained a First Class BA (Hons) in music from University of York, followed by a DPhil on Charles Ives researched at Yale University (USA) in 1994. Pete is currently Professor of Music Performance at Southampton Solent University.

In 1989 he became a founder member of both The Steve Martland Band (Factory Records) and Icebreaker, and went on to play for Ensemble Modern with John Adams, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales (as soloist), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Aurora Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra (Carnegie Hall), Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Colin Currie Group, Steve Reich, and in several BBC Proms (Royal Albert Hall). He has commissioned and performed a bass guitar concerto by composer Colin Riley.

He has also played bass for dance companies that include The Royal Ballet, Rambert Dance Company, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Random Dance and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company. 

Pop credits include Brian Eno, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Melanie C, Rufus Wainwright, and playing Sir Paul McCartney’s violin bass in Abbey Road Studio 2 in front of the man himself.

Pete has taught at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Dartington College of Arts, University of York and headed the BA (Hons) programme at Brighton Institute of Modern Music from its inception in 2003. He has been external examiner for University College Cork, University of Central England (UCE Birmingham), Tech Music Schools, Leeds College of Music, University of The West of Scotland, University of West London.