Peter John TregearOAM is an Australian musicologist, author and performer.
Career
Tregear's first academic appointment was as a lecturer in music at the University of Queensland in 1999. In 2000 he took up a Lectureship in music at Fitzwilliam and Churchill Colleges, Cambridge, as well as serving as a fellow and Director of Music at Fitzwilliam College, an appointment that "brought new energy" to the musical life of the college.[1] He returned to Australia in 2006 to serve as Dean of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, where he successfully mounted a case for the construction of the College's 'Gateway Building' which included performing arts facilities;[2] and later served as executive director of the Academy of Performing Arts at Monash University.[3]
In 2012 Tregear was appointed Professor and Head of the School of Music at the Australian National University and charged with resolving public and professional discontent that had erupted over the university's imposed job cuts and curriculum changes. Tregear reorganised the degree programs and appointed leading scholar-performers to the school, including Paul McMahon, David Irving and Erin Helyard.[4] By early 2015, however, it had become clear that the university had reneged on its commitment to a foundational level of staffing in the school, and was not providing the school with adequate budgetary information.[5] Tregear "found the University management hostile to his attempts to rebuild confidence in the School".[6] Announcing his resignation in August 2015, ANU's Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Young nevertheless acknowledged that he had been "a strong advocate for music education in Australia and at ANU" and had "worked tirelessly to build on the School of Music's vision, to promote creative life on campus and in the Canberra community".[7]
Fritz Hart: An English Musical Romantic at the Ends of Empire (co-authored with Anne-Marie Forbes) (Melbourne: Lyrebird Press, 2024).[31]
Enlightenment or Entitlement: Rethinking Tertiary Music Education. Platform Paper No. 38 (Sydney: Currency House, 2014).[32]
Ernst Krenek and the Politics of Musical Style (Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2013)[33]
The Conservatorium of Music University of Melbourne: An Historical Essay to Mark its Centenary (Melbourne: Faculty of Music, 1997).[34]
Advocacy work
Tregear was described by the Times Higher Education in 2021 as a "transparency advocate"[35] for his work campaigning for universities to be more open and accountable about their finances and integrity processes.[36][37][38] He has criticised the increasing use of 'gagging'clauses' in employment and separation agreements in Australian Higher Education and also argued against ministerial interference in the work of the Australian Research Council.[39][40] Tregear is a founding member of the advocacy group Academics for Public Universities.[41]
Awards and honours
Tregear won the Australian Green Room Award for Best Conductor (Opera) for 2008 for IOpera's production of Elwin and Elmire.[42] He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours "for service to music education and professional societies".[43]
References
^Cleaver, John (2013). Fitzwilliam: the first 150 years of a Cambridge college. London. p. 144. ISBN9781906507787.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Campbell, Peter (2022). The Triumph of our Fleur-de-Lys. The Miegunyah Press. pp. 598–600. ISBN9780522878424.
^Tregear, Peter (2014). Enlightenment or entitlement : rethinking tertiary music education. Strawberry Hills, N.S.W. ISBN9780987211484.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Tregear, Peter (2013). Ernst Krenek and the Politics of Musical Style. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. ISBN9780810882621.
^Tregear, Peter (1997). The Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne : an historical essay to mark its centenary 1895–1995. Parkville, Victoria: Centre for Studies in Australian Music, Faculty of Music, University of Melbourne. ISBN9780959883176.
^Australian Research Council Amendment (Ensuring Research Independence) Bill 2018. "Chapter 3". Parliament of Australia.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)