
Peter Carter is director of sacred music at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Allentown, New Jersey.
Mr. Carter received his B.M. (summa cum laude) and M.M. in organ performance at Westminster Choir College, where he studied the organ with Alan Morrison, Daryl Robinson, and organ improvisation with Peter Conte. While at Westminster Choir College, he studied conducting with Dr. James Jordan and Dr. Andrew Megill, and voice with Elizabeth Sutton and Dr. Christopher Arneson.
He sang with the Westminster Symphonic Choir for three seasons, frequently performing at Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, and the Kimmel Center of Philadelphia. He sang under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sir Simon Rattle, Jane Glover, and many others with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and Berliner Philharmoniker. His 2014 performance of the Beethoven 9thSymphony with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra was recorded and broadcast by PBS.
For three years, he sang with the Grammy® nominated Westminster Williamson Voicesand attended the Choral Institute at Oxford, a summer program co-sponsored by Westminster Choir College and Oxford University. He sang in their 2016 CD Carolae – Music for Christmas and was the organist in their 2016 CD Hole in the Sky. He also sang with early music ensemble Westminster Kantorei, which toured France and England the summer of 2016, performing in Chartres, Paris, Ely, and Windsor Castle. Currently, he sings with the professional choir The Same Stream and is on the CD of their upcoming release Serenity: The Music of Paul Mealor.
Mr. Carter has performed as an organist throughout the United States and in 2016 gave a concert on the historic organ of the Basilica of St. Maximan in France. In October 2017, he was the organist for the Pontifical High Mass by Bishop Serratelli at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey. He has upcoming concerts in the New Jersey area for the 2018-2019 season.
His teachers for Gregorian chant include his first organ teacher, Richard Morris, and Dom. Daniel Saulnier from the Abbey of St. Peter in Solesmeswho he studied with in 2014. Since 2015, he has given annual Gregorian chant workshops during the summer at the seminary of the Fraternity of St. Joseph the Guardian in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France. He has also given workshops and taught summer camps on Gregorian chant and sacred music in the tri-state area.
At St. John the Baptist, Mr. Carter conducts a twenty-voice semi-professional Schola Cantorum who sing for a weekly Solemn High Mass in the Extraordinary Form. Most recently, the Schola Cantorum was invited to sing the prelude music for the April 28 Pontifical High Mass with Archbishop Sample at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. Mr. Carter also conducts the Central New Jersey Catholic Chorale and sings in the Metropolitan Catholic Chorale. He teaches sacred music, particularly Gregorian chant, to children’s choirs from the Seat of Wisdom Homeschoolers Cooperative. He is the director of liturgical music for the Pro Civitate Dei France and Pro Civitate Dei Chile summer conferences hosted by the Fraternity of St. Joseph the Guardian. His latest enterprise is becoming co-host of Square Notes: The Sacred Music Podcast.

