Biography

​Peter Wyllie Johnston is a musician and writer. His publications include From the Melburnian (2011), The Nick Enright Songbook (2014), Morag Beaton-Her Life and Her Art (2019) and The Australian Musical — From The Beginning, published by Allen and Unwin in 2019. He is the composer of the music and lyrics of Moses-the Spirit of Freedom, the additional book of Joanna White's Girl in Pink, and the music, lyrics and book (with literary contributions by Trent O'Bryan) of Tamarama.

Peter was born in Melbourne, Australia. He learned the piano from the age of five and sang professionally with the Australian Opera (now Opera Australia) from the age of eleven, later also singing with the Victoria State Opera.  He wrote his first composition at the age of twelve, and when he was fourteen composed the score of Ian Robert Parker's short feature film Girl on the Boulevard, starring top Australian model Jill Goodall.  Since 2010 he has been Director of the Australian Music Theatre Research Institute (TAMTRI).  In 2011, he was appointed to his current position: Associate Professor with Honorary status in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne.