Peter Compo’s Five Canonic Duets

Peter Compo’s Five Canonic Duets, now available from Theodore Presser, brings a fresh voice to the flute duet repertoire.

Compo’s compositional style stands out for its fusion of influences. His background in classical, jazz, and popular music—even electronica, as heard in his album FILMS—coupled with his love of counterpoint, results in a unique neo-Baroque synthesis.

Attractive, inventive, and accessible, these miniatures may be played individually or as a complete suite on recitals. Because of their canonic form, they offer new pedagogical opportunities as well.

While targeted at the professional community, the duets will be welcome additions to college and strong high school flute studios. Either part may also be played by violin and, in some cases, oboe.

Recordings of the duets by Chloe Tordi and Matthew Reeder of The Carnegie Mellon School of Music can be found on Peter Compo’s website and YouTube. The score is available through Presser and other online music retailers.

Peter Compo is a scientist, strategy author, and composer. He hails from a multi-generational family of musicians in New York, where, after a period of piano and composition studies he went on earn a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the City College of New York. After working 25 years at E.I. DuPont in Delaware, he left the corporation to write The Emergent Approach to Strategy (2022), develop his theories on creativity and innovation, and reconnect with his musical roots. His album of hybrid-electronica, Films, was released in 2021 by Tower to the Sea Records.