He subsequently completed a Masters degree and Doctorate at the University of Sussex. Copley studied at the Dartington International Summer School in 1981 and 1983. In 2000 he made the first of several recent visits as a teacher and featured composer.
As a boy, Copley was a pupil at Brighton College. He went on to study composition at the Royal Academy of Music and privately with Hans Keller. In 1985, he was awarded a Polish government scholarship to study at the Akademia Muzyczna in Krakow with Marek Stachowski.
A significant part of his output consists of educational music
In 1994, Peter Copley co - founded New Music Brighton, a collective of composers working in the Sussex region. Copley"s many works include Farnham Fantasia for strings, recently performed in both the Royal Festival and Royal Albert Halls, and the Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Percussion, first performed by John Wallace and the Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth as part of the orchestra’s 75th Birthday Weekend.
Among his recent compositions are Elegiac Variations for January and Jane, for two violas and string orchestra, and Conversation Piece, for Percussion Ensemble, commissioned by Brighton & Hove Music Service. 2009 – 10 commissions include music for three short stories by Catherine Smith commissioned by Lewes Live Literature, a work for Sir John Tomlinson and the Brighton Youth Orchestra for the 2010 Brighton Festival and a composition for mandolin, commissioned by Alison Stephens for the 2010 Dartington International Summer School.
