Acclaimed musician of great versatility, Roland Peelman was born in Flanders, Belgium and has been active in Australia over 20 years as a conductor, pianist, artistic director and mentor to composers, singers and musicians alike. He has received numerous accolades for his long-standing commitment to The Song Company and the creative arts in Australia, receiving the NSW Award for “the most outstanding contribution to Australian Music by an individual’ in 2005. In 2006 he was named ‘musician of the year’ by music critic Fred Blanks in the Sydney Morning Herald and again featured as one of Sydney’s top twenty musicians at the end of 2007.
His overview and understanding of the music canon is unique with a repertoire that includes the major classical works and operas from Mozart to Gerswhin as well as the oeuvre by Lassus, Monteverdi, Schütz, Purcell and Bach and much of the new repertoire created overseas and in Australia. Over the years Roland has directed recordings and premiere seasons of new operas such as Black River, Fahrenheit 451, The Burrow, The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Gauguin and many others.
He has worked with most orchestras in Australia and has conducted an abundance of new work with specialist ensembles such as Sydney Alpha, Libra and Ictus (Belgium-Germany) and most recently, Ensemble Offspring.
In 2006, Roland conducted the premiere season of M! The Opera by Saidah Rastam in Kuala Lumpur and WASO in the premiere of The Silence by Ian Grandage. In addition to his work with The Song Company, in 2008 he returns to conduct a wide range of repertoire at the Four Winds Festival, the Aurora Festival as well as the Canberra and Brisbane Festivals.
