Peter K. Moran

Peter K. Moran (30 June 1767 – 10 February 1831) was an Irish pianist, composer, and music publisher – probably the earliest classical composer from Ireland to emigrate to the United States. Life Moran was probably born in Dublin and studied with Philip Dwyer (died 1802) and Philip Cogan (1750–1833). He appeared at concerts in Dublin between March 1799 and June 1816. His earliest compositions were published in Dublin from c. 1796 and reprinted there until the late 1820s. In 1817, Moran emigrated to the USA with his wife, a singer. While Kinkeldey described him as a “Boston musician”, the Moran couple was evidently very active in New York’s concert life, even their daughter making her début as a singer and pianist in 1820, aged five. Moran was organist at Grace Episcopal Church (c. 1823–7), and St John’s Chapel (1828–31), performed for the Handel and Haydn Society in 1820 and for the New York Choral Society’s first concert in 1824. He also played the cello in the García Opera Company in New York in 1825, performed with the Philharmonic Society, and was concertmaster of the Musical Fund Society. From 1822 to 1823 he ran a piano and music store and published about 25 pieces, including