A composer, conductor, and creative catalyst, Peter Askim is Music Director of the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director and Founder of The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, Conductor of the Raleigh Civic Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, and Director of Orchestral Activities at North Carolina State University. Known for his visionary programming, dynamic musicianship, and steadfast commitment to amplifying living composers, Askim draws on his deep experience as an orchestral bassist, educator, professor, and civic leader to create experiences that uplift the rich voices and aspirations of overlooked communities. He is guided by the belief that music has the power to unite us and possesses the ability to transform institutions into communities and audiences into participants.
In addition to his titled roles, Askim has conducted the American Composers Orchestra, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, and APROARTE Orchestra (Portugal), among others, and has been described as “an assured conductor… with much energy, which must be infectious to the orchestra” (Cultural Voice of North Carolina). A passionate advocate for the music of our time, he frequently brings new works to life through close and sustained collaboration with composers and performers, curating programming that reimagines the orchestra as a living, breathing community, inspiring Indy Week to write that his curation is “some of the most fascinating and inventive in the area.”
He has commissioned and conducted world premieres by Lisa Bielawa, Christopher Cerrone, Richard Danielpour, Brett Dean, Aaron Jay Kernis, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Allison Loggins-Hull, Tift Merritt, Jessica Meyer, Nico Muhly, Rufus Reid, Jeff Scott, Nahre Sol, Curtis Stewart, Matthew Evan Taylor, Christopher Theofanidis, Liliya Ugay, Aleksandra Vrebalov, and Paul Wiancko, as well as concertos written and performed by guitarists Richard Thompson, Jeff Peterson, and Yvette Young. In 2022, he led the American premiere of Florence Price’s Ethiopia’s Shadow in America, continuing his advocacy for historically overlooked voices in American music. Through such collaborations – spanning genres from contemporary classical to folk, jazz, and rock – Askim thrives in the liminal space between traditions, creating new pathways where seemingly disparate worlds can coexist and inspire one another.
Photo: Titilayo Ayangade
Askim’s conducting work has been featured on HBO and National Public Radio, earning special recognition for his collaboration with folk-rock legend Richard Thompson on the original soundtrack for the World War II documentary The Cold Blue. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including the Kronos Quartet, Miranda Cuckson, Matt Haimovitz, Pamela Z, Vijay Iyer, Jennifer Koh, Nadia Sirota, Sō Percussion, Jeffrey Zeigler, Seth Parker Woods, Ksenija Komljenović, the bluegrass band Balsam Range, and actor Harry Shearer (The Simpsons, This Is Spinal Tap). This curiosity for crossing artistic borders has also fueled multimedia projects incorporating dance, visual art, spoken word, and virtual reality, reflecting his view of music as a deeply interdisciplinary force.
As a composer, Askim has been praised by The Strad as “a modern master.” His works have been commissioned and performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Cantus Ansambl Zagreb, and the American Viola Society, as well as by prominent chamber ensembles such as ETHEL and the Aizuri Quartet, and by cellist Jeffrey Zeigler. Bass World described his music as “an epic journey,” reflecting his deep lyricism and rhythmic vitality.
Through his leadership of the Raleigh Civic Orchestras, Askim has redefined the role of the university and community symphony, pioneering multimedia concert experiences that explore pressing social and environmental themes alongside local and historical narratives. Since 2015, every concert under his direction has featured a newly commissioned world premiere – over 40 to date – including works inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s North Carolina “I Have a Dream” speech, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the Voting Rights Act. His programming philosophy – whether opening a concert with a local composer whose music mirrors the town’s own soundscape, or reframing Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony as a story of community resilience – reveals his conviction that classical music’s renewal lies in relevance, inclusion, and place.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Askim spearheaded an innovative series of distance-collaboration premieres, uniting musicians across states and continents through technology to perform together in real time. These projects garnered national recognition for artistic ingenuity and inclusivity, earning grants and support from New Music USA and the Women’s Philharmonic Association. Under his direction, the Raleigh Civic Orchestras have become models of diversity, creativity, and community-centered programming in higher education.
Askim’s work as a mentor and community builder is most visible through The Next Festival of Emerging Artists, which he founded in 2013. This trailblazing arts-immersion program serves as an incubator for early-career string players, composers, and choreographers between the ages of 20 to 30, focusing on artistic development, entrepreneurship, and the creation of new work. The Festival fosters meaningful collaborations between young artists and leading figures in contemporary music, providing hands-on professional development and opportunities for high-level performance, recording, and mentorship from leading Pulitzer, MacArthur, GRAMMY, and Emmy-winning soloists.
To date, The Next Festival has supported more than 250 emerging artists and has appeared at major cultural venues including National Sawdust, Roulette, (le) Poisson Rouge, Kaufman Music Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and PS21/Center for Contemporary Performance. In 2023, it was featured by the American Composers Orchestra’s SONiC Festival in New York City. Through its innovative structure and mission, the Festival has become a national model for empowering young artists to shape the future of creative music-making.
Earlier in his career, Askim served as Music Director and Composer-in-Residence of the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra, where he led one of the nation’s leading pre-professional orchestral training programs for young musicians. He was previously a member of the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and a faculty member at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where he directed the Contemporary Music Ensemble and taught composition and theory.
Askim holds doctoral degrees in performance and composition from the Yale School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin, and also studied at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien in Vienna with the legendary bass soloist Ludwig Streicher. His composition teachers include Anthony Davis, Donald Grantham, David Finko, and Jan Radzynski, and his bass teachers include Don Palma, Diana Gannett, and George Rubino.
He has received the Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music, was a finalist for the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming, and was honored with Special Recognition from the International Society of Bassists for his contributions to the double-bass repertoire. He has been a featured recitalist at numerous International Society of Bassists conventions and at the World Bass Festival in Wrocław, Poland.
Updated January 2026