Peter Gilbert's work combines traditional instrumental writing with elements of improvisation, live-performed electronics, and other media. His music, whether in multi-media theater, film, installation or a traditional concert, thrives on the act and art of collaboration. He writes: "My music usually aspires to create a sonic architecture that helps us lose our sense of time completely and allows us to partake in a kind of more direct aural experience. Counterpoint, whether medieval or romantic, is another vital part of my musical self and so such melodic/harmonic/rhythmic entities may also float through the sound environment or perhaps the sound environment is lingering in clouds behind contrapuntal floes. Either way, I love the feeling of being enveloped in a musical experience. I search for musical moments that can conjure up secret passageways to transcendence—that we performers, collaborators, listeners can conjure together."

He has held artist residencies in Europe and the US at institutions like the ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik (Germany), the Aaron Copland House, Akademie Schloss Solitude (Germany), IMEB Bourges (France), La Mortella (Italy), and been in residence at festivals such as the Tage Aktueller Musik Nürnberg (Germany) and the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. Gilbert has been a composer-in-residence or guest speaker at many schools such as University of California-Berkeley, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, University of Miami, Conservatorio Piccinni di Bari (Italy), University of Glasgow, Brandeis University, Northern Arizona University, University of Mary Washington, Illinois Wesleyan University, and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Gilbert’s music has been included in music festivals and conferences around the world including the ICMC International Conference, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Society of Composers (SCI) National Conference, SEAMUS National Conference, Electronic Music Midwest, Nuova Consonanza Festival, Muestra de Musica Visual México, Global Composition World Soundscape Conference, Chamber Music Campagna (Italy), Balance-Unbalance International Conference (Australia), STREAMS International Music Festival, New Music Miami ISCM Festival, New Music & Art Festival Bowling Green, Florida State Univ. Festival of New Music, Third Practice Music Festival, Look & Listen Festival, Western Illinois New Music Festival, AugustArt Festival NYC. He was also a Co-host of the 2019 SCI National Conference which included works by over 50 guest composers. He has been a Musical Director of the John Donald Robb Composers’ Symposium at the University of New Mexico since 2013.

Gilbert has written works for renowned soloists such as Emanuele Arciuli, Daniel Lippel, Mario Caroli, Richard White, Jeremias Schwarzer, Camilla Hoitenga, Magdalena Meitzner, Martin Tchiba, Michael Veit, Stephen Porter, Monica Robescu, Jeb Wallace, Michael Walker, Philipp Stäudlin, Michael Norsworthy, Carson Cooman, and Terry Everson.

Gilbert has also collaborated with outstanding ensembles such as Klangforum Heidelberg, Arditti Quartet, Lorelei Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Meridian Arts Ensemble, Ekmeles, Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Switch Ensemble, Soli Fan Tutti (Staatstheater Darmstadt), New Mexico Winds, Iridium Quartet, Pianarmonio, Silver Reed Duo, and FretX. He has alos been performed by Sonic Art Quartet, Splice Ensemble, counter(induction, One World Symphony, Red Light New Music, SO Percussion, New Thread Saxophone Quartet, Forward Motion, Peabody Camerata, Verspiel New Music, as well as numerous university wind ensembles and percussion ensembles. Gilbert is also committed to writing music for local ensembles that support young musicians such as the Albuquerque Junior Symphony, the UNM Children's Chorus, and New Mexico High School and Middle School bands.

Accolades and commissions have come from the Barlow Foundation, the Siemens Music Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, New Music USA, the NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, the Russolo Foundation, the Look & Listen Festival, the Third Practice Festival, the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, the Washington International Composers Competition, The “Bohemians Prize” from the New York Musicians Club, and the ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik. Gilbert has also done film scoring for numerous celebrated documentaries which have garnered prizes including the Tallgrass Film Festival Outstanding Documentary Feature, Winner—ABQ Indie Film Festival, and the Grand Jury Prize of the Provincetown Film Festival.

Gilbert's second portrait album for New Focus Recordings was named Best of 2021 by Sequenza21. His work as a composer, performer and producer can also be heard on other albums at New Focus Recordings as well as on CDs with Innova Recordings, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Affeto, Neos, emt, Centaur, and a planned album of piano works will be released with Neuma Records in 2024, and at http://petergilbert.net.

His multi-media opera dreimaldrei gleich unendlich (trans: 3x3=∞), written with partner, Karola Obermüller, was premiered in 2009 as part of the Musik der Jahrhunderte festival in Stuttgart and was featured in the "Imagining Media" exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik. A US production won awards at the National Opera Association (2009). He and Obermüller have presented their installation piece “Listening to Mountains” at international soundscape conferences in Europe and Australia as well as an evening-length devised theatrical work for Klangforum Heidelberg. Other Gilbert-Obermüller collaborations include the Siemens funded opera Robert S. produced with Theater Bonn and a opera with Theater Aachen which will premiere in 2026.

He has taught composition, electronic music, music theory and music history at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He co-founded the Young Composers Program at CIM and was its Co-Directer from 2003-2010. Gilbert studied with composition with Julian Anderson, Margaret Brouwer, Chaya Czernowin, Mario Davidovsky, Joshua Fineberg, Lee Hyla, Helmut Lachenmann, Magnus Lindberg, Bernard Rands, Hans Tutschku, and David Vayo. He holds degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a PhD from Harvard University. Since 2010 he has been part of the composition faculty and a coordinator of the composition and music technology areas University of New Mexico as Professor of Composition.

Peter Gilbert writes: “I love the feeling of being enveloped in a musical experience, of disappearing into sound. I search for musical moments that can conjure up secret passageways to transcendence—that we performers, collaborators, listeners can conjure together.”

Peter Gilbert's work combines traditional instrumental writing with elements of improvisation, live-performed electronics, and other media in works for the concert hall as well as for multi-media theater, film, and installation. In his words, he attempts to “become enveloped in a musical experience, disappearing into sound.”

Gilbert has held artist residencies with numerous institutions in Europe and the US including ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik, Akademie Schloss Solitude (Germany), and the Aaron Copland House and festivals such as the Tage Aktueller Musik, Nürnberg (Germany) and the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. Accolades and commissions have come from the Barlow Foundation, New Music USA, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, the Russolo Foundation, the Look & Listen Festival, the Third Practice Festival, the Washington International Composers Competition, Stadtstheater Darmstadt, the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, and Theater Russelsheim.

Gilbert taught at Harvard University, Wellesley College, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and was co-founder of the Young Composers Program at CIM and its Co-Directer from 2003-2010. Since 2010 he has taught composition at the University of New Mexico.  Gilbert's second portrait album for New Focus Recordings was named a Best of 2021 by Sequenza21. His work as a composer, performer and producer can also be heard on Innova Recordings, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Affeto, Centaur, and at http://petergilbert.net.

Peter Gilbert’s music combines acoustic and live-electronic sensibilities in works for multi-media theatre, film, installation and the concert hall. His second portrait album with New Focus Recordings “Burned Into the Orange” was named “Best of 2021” by Sequenza21. Accolades, commissions and residencies have come from the Barlow Foundation, NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, New Music USA, ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik, the Aaron Copland House, Akademie Schloss Solitude, La Mortella, Tage Aktueller Musik Nürnberg, the Look & Listen Festival, the Russolo Foundation, Theater Bonn, the Third Practice Festival, IMEB Bourges, and the Washington International Composers Competition. His work as a composer, performer and producer can be heard on New Focus Recordings, Neuma, Innova, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Centaur and at http://petergilbert.net. He has taught at Harvard University, Wellesley College, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Case Western Reserve University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Gilbert is now coordinator for composition and music technology as Professor of Music at the University of New Mexico.

Peter Gilberts Kompositionen kombinieren akustische und live-elektronische Musik in Werken für Konzertsaal und Theater sowie in Installationen und multimedialen Stücken. Arbeitsstipendien und die Zusammenarbeit mit Festivals führten ihn an Orte und Institutionen wie u.a. ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik, Aaron Copland House, Akademie Schloss Solitude, La Mortella (Italien), Bonn Chance! und Tage Aktueller Musik Nürnberg.

Er erhielt Aufträge und Auszeichnungen u.a. von der NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, Barlow Foundation, New Music USA, Russolo Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, Look & Listen Festival, Third Practice Festival und I.M.E.B (Bourges). Gilbert hat an der Harvard University promoviert. Seit 2010 ist er Kompositionsprofessor an der University of New Mexico.

Sein Album "Burned Into the Orange" (New Focus Recordings) wurde von Sequenza21 als "Best of 2021" ausgezeichnet. Sein Musik ist auch auf Innova Recordings, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Affeto, Centaur, Neuma, und New Focus Recordings zu hören. Gilbert hat am Cleveland Institute of Music studiert und an der Harvard University promoviert. Er hatte Lehraufträge an der Harvard University, am Wellesley College, an der Northeastern University, und am Cleveland Institute of Music inne. Seit 2010 ist er Kompositionsprofessor an der University of New Mexico.

Peter Gilberts Kompositionen kombinieren akustische und live-elektronische Musik in Werken für Konzertsaal und Theater sowie in Installationen und multimedialen Stücken. Arbeitsstipendien und die Zusammenarbeit mit Festivals führten ihn an Orte und Institutionen wie u.a. ZKM | Institut für Akustik und Musik, Aaron Copland House (USA), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges (Frankreich), La Mortella (Italien), Bonn Chance!, Tage Aktueller Musik Nürnberg, Theater Russelsheim, Staatstheater Darmstadt, und Newburyport Chamber Music Festival (USA).

Er erhielt Aufträge und Auszeichnungen u.a. von der Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung, NRW Fonds Neues Musiktheater, Barlow Foundation, Kennedy Center Education, New Music USA, Russolo Foundation, Look & Listen Festival, Third Practice Festival, und Washington International Composers Competition.

Seine Musik wurde auf Konferenzen wie ICMC International Conference, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Society of Composers (SCI) National Conference, SEAMUS National Conference, Electronic Music Midwest. Nuova Consonanza Festival, Muestra de Musica Visual México, Global Composition World Soundscape Conference, Chamber Music Campagna (Italy), Balance-Unbalance International Conference (Australia), STREAMS International Music Festival, New Music Miami ISCM Festival, New Music & Art Festival Bowling Green, Third Practice Music Festival, Look & Listen Festival, Western Illinois New Music Festival, und AugustArt Festival NYC vorgestellt. Er war außerdem Co-Moderator der SCI National Conference 2019, auf der Werke von über 50 Gastkomponisten vertreten waren. Seit 2013 ist er musikalischer Leiter des John Donald Robb Composers‘ Symposium an der University of New Mexico.

Seine zwei Portrait-CDs erschien bei New Focus Recordings (NYC) erscheinen und der zweite wurde von Sequenza21 zum “Best of 2021” ausgezeichnet. Weitere werke sind auf Innova Recordings, GM Recordings, Sono Luminus, Affeto, Centaur, und Neumann zu hören.

Gilbert hat am Cleveland Institute of Music studiert und an der Harvard University promoviert. Er hatte Lehraufträge an der Harvard University, am Wellesley College, an der Northeastern University, und am Cleveland Institute of Music inne. Seit 2010 ist er Kompositionsprofessor an der University of New Mexico.