Peter Salem has been composing almost exclusively for Contemporary Ballet for the last decade, completing his 10th ballet in April 2025 with the critically acclaimed score for Dutch National Ballet’s Lady Macbeth.
He has always had a love of writing for theatre and dance, working with contemporary dance groups and composing music for many theatre productions by the RSC, National Theatre and the physical theatre company Shared Experience Theatre. His growing passion for writing music for narrative ballet coincided with what turned out to be the start of a long-term creative partnership with Annabelle Lopez-Ochoa composing the score for her award-winning Scottish Ballet commission A Streetcar Named Desire. This was followed by Broken Wings for ENB, Frida for Dutch National Ballet, The Little Prince - BalletX, Doña Peron - Ballet Hispanico and Coco Chanel: the life of a fashion icon - a co-production for Hong Kong Ballet, Queensland Ballet and Atlanta Ballet. His other dance scores include Camino Real - Atlanta Ballet, The Crucible - Scottish Ballet, Emma Bovary - The National ballet of Canada and Lady Macbeth for Dutch National Ballet all with choreographer Helen Picket.
In 2019 he was nominated for the ‘Outstanding Artistic Contribution’ award at the national dance awards.
As well as writing for dance and theatre Peter has also been prolific as a composer for TV and film - probably best known for his music for the first four series of Call the Midwife which won him a Music and Sound award in 2016.
He has just finished a commission from The Primrose Piano Quartet to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth with performances scheduled for autumn-winter 2025.