Peter Cavell is a composer/lyricist, pianist, writer, and occasional thereminist. He holds degrees in classical composition from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Victoria, where his music was described as "sarcastic", "very sarcastic", and “Peter, this wasn’t the assignment”. Since then, his works have been performed throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Holland, Bosnia, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. He is perhaps best known for the musicals "People Suck: A Musical Airing of Grievances" (with Megan Phillips) and "The Pirate Queen of the Stars" (with Andrew Templeton), and for his one-act play "Hero", which won first prize in the 2018 Newmarket National Play Festival. For ten years, Peter worked as a Musical Director at the Second City Training Centre of Toronto, where he taught musical improv and composed or improvised music for hundreds of performances. Peter delights in tackling unexpected stories and genres, experimenting with form, and turning tropes upside-down. His work sometimes touches on topics like mythology, ritual, religious baggage, sex/sexuality, and geek culture. Most of all, Peter loves to create living, breathing, character-driven musicals that blur the boundaries between comedy and drama, making you laugh and then sucker-punching you right in the feels. An unrepentant Canadian, Peter lives in Toronto with his wife and their two young sons.
