Ian Peter Bugeja is a graduate of the University of Malta (where he read for a B.A. [Hons.] degree in Music [major in piano performance and conducting] under the tutelage of Michael Laus), the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (where he was generously supported by the Janatha Stubbs Foundation to read for an MMus in orchestral & opera conducting under the tutelage of conductor-in-residence David Jones), and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama (where he read for a [doctoral-level] MPhil in historical performance under the tutelage of John Irving, Biranda Ford, and Christopher Suckling). He previously studied piano with Maria Dolores Amodio, and harmony & counterpoint with Stephanie Quintano Lauri – and has been tutored in opera conducting by Richard Divall, and in symphonic conducting by Jonathan Butcher, Neil Thomson, and Toby Purser. He has also participated in master-classes with various internationally-acclaimed musicians amongst whom were John Fisher, Emma Kirkby, Siegfried Mauser, Douglas Haas, John Bethell, Franco Foderà, George Konstantinidis, Geoffrey Haydock, Yuri Didenko, Penelope Haydock, Iris Senturker, Rudina Ciko, Zoe Samsarelou, Massimiliano Damerini, Olivier Lechardeur, and Olga Bobrovnikova.
Ian Peter specialises in historical performance as both conductor and soloist, regularly conducting early instrumental music and operas from the keyboard (harpsichord/fortepiano), and is the founder and executive director of vocal & period instrument ensemble ‘Les Bougies Baroques’ – with whom he has toured extensively across the UK & mainland Europe, to great acclaim. He has also worked with a number of other ensembles and orchestras that include the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra, Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Orion Symphony Orchestra, RWCMD Chamber Orchestra, REPCo Orchestra, and the Wales International Academy of Voice (Saturday Academy). Operas in which Ian Peter has featured as main conductor & assistant conductor include Strauss’s ‘Die Fledermaus’ and Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ (Wales Millennium Centre), Puccini’s ‘Madama Butterfly’ (Mid-Wales Opera), the Mozart-Salieri ‘Der Schauspieldirektor’ & ‘Prima la musica e poi le parole’ and the Mascagni-Leoncavallo ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ & ‘Pagliacci’ double-bills (Teatru Manoel), Gluck’s ‘Il Parnaso Confuso’ (Wilton's Music Hall), and Sarro’s ‘La Contesa di Pallade e Venere’ (Sands Films).
Ian Peter has toured the UK & mainland Europe extensively, performed in Damascus (Syria), and was a prize-winner during the fourth edition of the international piano competition ‘Concorso Pianistico W.A. Mozart’, which was held in Italy; he has also performed for HRH Prince Edward (then Earl of Wessex), and other distinguished guests at Palazzo Parisio in Malta for a World Fellows dinner (Duke of Edinburgh event), while in 2013 he was responsible for musically preparing internationally-acclaimed countertenor Max Cencic in Vienna, in anticipation of the release of his album ‘Venezia’ with the record-label ‘Virgin’.
Notable appearances have included a performance with the ‘Academy of Ancient Music’ in a 2013 ‘side-by-side’ concert, closing the Valletta International Baroque Festival with ‘Les Bougies Baroque’s’ in 2014, debuting in Berlin and at the London Handel Festival with ‘Les Bougies Baroque’s’ in September 2014 & March 2016
respectively, heading the 2018 ‘Apsley Lates’ series and residency (as curator & artistic director) at Apsley House, curating ‘A Baroque Valentine’s for LGBT+ History Month’ (an exploration of the LGBTQIA+ undercurrents present within the National Gallery’s paintings through the medium of historically-informed performance) for &
with the National Gallery (London) in February 2020, and co-founding ‘A Queer Georgian Social Season’ (co-led by ‘Les Bougies Baroques’ & The Foundling Museum) with Mark Francis-Vasey in 2021.
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“Bugeja conducts with the energy of a born enthusiast… Great fun and hugely enjoyable.”
Tim Ashley – ‘The Guardian’
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“With Bugeja directing from the keyboard, the performance as a whole was vivid,
well sprung, and aptly festive in spirit.”
Yehuda Shapiro – ‘Opera Magazine’
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“Ian Peter directed the ensemble from the harpsichord, doing so with his usual zest,
energy and infectious commitment…”
Albert G. Storace – ‘The Sunday Times of Malta’
