This season, the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra presents the world premiere of When the Alarm(s) Stopped by composer and conductor Peter Chatterjee, a graduate student in conducting at UC Davis. Peter’s work, written for the Taproot New Music Festival, reflects both his intellectual curiosity and emotional insight—qualities that also define his approach to conducting. This will be premiered on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at the Mondavi Center in Davis, in a program that also includes Barber’s Adagio for Strings, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. We spoke about his creative process, the balance between composition and conducting, and his evolving artistic vision. Here is also a comment from my esteemed colleague, Professor Nicolás Dosman: “Peter, a gifted composer, began the master’s program in conducting two years ago. His experience was limited to instrumental works as a composer and conductor. Throughout his studies Peter has not only composed beautiful choral music but has grown into a conductor that can communicate effectively with choirs and orchestras with a composer’s insight.”
Christian Baldini: Peter, you wear two hats: composer and conductor. How do these two disciplines feed each other, and how do you balance them in your daily life?
Peter Chatterjee: I find that the two build on and inform one another quite well. As a composer, I find that having a background in communicating with ensembles, both in the written score and in person, has been extremely helpful. On the conducting side, knowing the types of behind-the-scenes work that composers put into their pieces helps me bring a unique perspective to the music that I wouldn’t have without that other side.
CB: Let’s talk about When the Alarm(s) Stopped. What inspired this piece, and how did your vision for it evolve during the writing process? In your program notes you indicate that “Throughout all of the circumstances of the piece — the building climactic points, uncanny recurring moments, and shifting, melting — the strings function as a sort of plane from which winds and brass emerge and come into conflict.” – How would you expand on the emotional, aesthetic and philosophical dimension of this work?
PC: I had originally started with this concept around the doomsday clock and how we have been nearing closer and closer to the midnight point, the point at which humans have induced an irreparable global catastrophe. Over the time I was working on the piece, my focus shifted a bit to the way in which certain warning systems for social and natural disasters have been eroded in recent decades.
CB: You conduct both orchestras and choirs at UC Davis. How would you describe the main differences between these two worlds? What do you find most rewarding—and most challenging—about working with these different ensembles?
PC: The two worlds are so different but equally rewarding. Overall, the similarities are the most important for me, developing community through music, experiencing what it’s like to learn and perform the standard repertoire, and exploring music of our own time. Most of what I have conducted with the UC Davis ensembles has been music by living composers, so bringing my own compositional perspective has been helpful at times, especially when working with composers in real time. This has been especially with the sinfonietta, premiering new works that don’t have recordings yet, and translating between a live composer and the ensemble.
CB: In your conducting studies, what have been some of the most transformative lessons or experiences?
PC: The idea of knowing a score down to the smallest detail and still being able to have an open mind to what an interpretation by another musician can bring. So much of large ensemble is finding this balance point between what you imagine while studying a score and what the musicians bring with them to the music in experience, personal sounds, etc.
CB: Who are some of the conductors you most admire, and what qualities in their leadership or musicianship resonate with you?
PC: There are so many that I admire, but most recently I’ve been finding most resonance with the work of Marin Alsop. Not only is she a fantastic and groundbreaking conductor, but one whose career has embraced the rich traditions of orchestral music alongside work raising the profiles of so many contemporary composers and young conductors. Salonen and Dudamel are also constant inspirations, especially with the degree to which they brought new music to Los Angeles and San Francisco during their tenures there.
CB: And on the composition side—who are your greatest musical influences, past or present? What draws you to their work?
PC: Color, both instrumental and vocal, is one of my biggest draws to composers like Messiaen and Ellington. The full list would take up way too much time, but when a composer can capture a certain space or color in a visceral way, I’m hooked.
CB: When you compose, what are you seeking to achieve? Is there a particular atmosphere, narrative, or emotional truth that you want your music to evoke?
PC: It very much depends on the piece. For a while I was relating most of my music to nature and the shifts between seasons or atmospheric phenomena. Lately I have been writing music that attempts to explore sonic spaces that relate to unsettled feelings and embracing the lack of clarity that manifests in such situations. I am actually working to push this as far as I can in a chamber opera I’m working on for my dissertation.
CB: Many young musicians today blur the lines between genres and disciplines. How do you see yourself within that landscape? Do you identify with any particular aesthetic, school, or movement?
PC: I’ve found myself traveling in and in between so many different types of musical practice, starting with jazz, then new music, now adding conducting formally into the mix. I think that the blending that’s happening can lead to many exciting places that we didn’t think were possible, and the encouragement that exists for the work right now is incredible.
CB: How has your time at UC Davis so far shaped you as an artist? Are there mentors, courses, or experiences that have been especially pivotal?
PC: On the compositional side, I could not have done as much as I have without the support and advice of the wonderful faculty here. They have all helped so much, but I would especially like to mention Kurt Rohde and Laurie San Martin for their support. On the conducting side, both you and Professor Dosman have been wonderful, as have the members of the choirs and orchestra. Additionally, the UCD choirs’ tour of Vienna and Salzburg in the summer of 2024 was a turning point for me, introducing a side of opera and of musical community that I had not experienced in that way before.
CB: What are your next steps after graduation? (NB: in addition to completing a Master’s in Conducting, Peter is also completing a Ph.D. in Composition) Are there particular projects, collaborations, or long-term goals you’re excited to pursue?
PC: Well, I still have almost two years left, so many paths may still show themselves that I haven’t yet come across, but my goal would be to continue working with ensembles as composer, conductor, or both, and continuing to teach music.
CB: What advice would you give to younger musicians, conductors or composers who are just starting to find their voice?
PC: I would encourage them to embrace their own curiosity and to follow where it leads. There are so many paths to building a life with music that finding a way to keep your own creativity and motivation will help lead to a successful path.
CB: Finally, how do you hope audiences will feel when they hear When the Alarms Stopped for the first time?
PC: There are certain moments of tension, others of release, but rarely if ever relaxation. I hope this comes through.
Peter Chatterjee is a Bay Area-based composer, arranger, and conductor. He holds degrees from Berklee College of Music and California State University, Northridge. His primary composition mentors were Marti Epstein, Bob Pilkington, Ayn Inserto, Liviu Marinescu, and A.J. McCaffrey.
Peter’s recent compositions have included several works for orchestra, large jazz ensemble, and chamber ensembles centered around the ways that experience and memory and time are altered by heightened emotional contexts. His music has been performed by the Mojave Trio, Emily Thorner, Hrabba Atladottir, UC Davis Sinfonietta, UC Davis Chamber Singers, and the Esterhazy Quartet. His work has also been read and recorded by the Pacific Chamber Orchestra and by the SF Contemporary Music Players. Peter is currently a PhD candidate at UC Davis, studying composition with Mika Pelo and Kurt Rohde, orchestral conducting with Christian Baldini, and choral conducting with Nicolás Dosman.
Christian Baldini's Interviews 