BACKGROUND

Peter MacDonough has been playing music since the age of nine and was named “Musician of the Year” the same year. At the age of 13, he was selected to the All State band on clarinet and bass clarinet and at the age of 15, joined the Richmond Youth Symphony under Maestro Fritz Mareffi on clarinet, bass clarinet and bassoon. At the age of 16, he earned a full music scholarship to Valley Forge Military Academy, whose band had played the previous year with the Philadelphia Philharmonic. He continued playing classical music as the principal clarinetist through college until his change to saxophone.

He recorded his first album in 1991 as a tribute to one of his major influences, Jay Beckenstein. From there, he continued to record and perform across the United States, Australia and Italy. In 1996, he returned to San Francisco and began studying Latin Jazz under several brilliant teachers including Michael Spiro, Mark Levine, Marcos Silva, Jovino Santos Neto, Mary Fettig and Steve Erquiaga. Michael Spiro, Mark Levine and Jovino Santos Neto would later appear on his 2010 release “The WOO: A Latin Jazz Suite for Soprano Saxophone.”

During the late 90’s, his band Dorian Blue recorded several albums to supplement Peter’s session work in the Bay Area appearing on several albums for other musicians. In 2007, Peter returned to Sydney where he now lives and continues to perform and record there.