Born in London, Peter Burt studied composition with Bernard Rands, Elisabeth Lutyens, Roger Marsh, Wilfrid Mellers, Antonín Tučapský, Stanley Glasser and Sohrab Uduman. He received an MMus in composition from Goldsmiths, University of London and embarked on a PhD at Durham University, where he changed direction and abandoned composition for many years to engage in musical research, publishing a monograph on Toru Takemitsu (CUP, 2001) and several other writings. For many years an associate lecturer for the Open University based in Vienna, he is now devoting his retirement to compositional activity again, revisiting old scores as well as writing new ones.