Ben McPeek

Benjamin Dewey McPeek (28 August 1934 – 14 January 1981) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. Early life McPeek was born in Trail, British Columbia. He earned an associate degree from The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1954 and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto in 1956. He was a pupil of John Beckwith, Gordon Delamont, Talivaldis Kenins, Oskar Morawetz, Godfrey Ridout, and John Weinzweig. Career McPeek began performing as a pianist with dance bands in Toronto during the mid-1950s. In the late 1950s he performed with the Five Playboys with some frequency on CBC Radio. In 1960 McPeek made his first foray into musical theatre when he became music director of the revue Up Tempo 60 at the King Edward Hotel. He went on to compose music for several other theatrical productions between 1963 and 1968, including That Hamilton Woman, Suddenly This Summer, Actually This Autumn, and Spring Thaw. In 1963 he wrote his first opera, The Bargain, which was based on the legend of Faust. The opera was filmed for CBC Television in 1966 and was later staged for the first time in 1978 by the COMUS Music Theatre of Canada. McPeek’s original handwritten piano score fo