Peter McNamara was born and educated in the challenging social environment of Western Sydney, and is gaining a reputation as one of Australia's most talented emerging composers. He has worked as a freelance composer across a wide variety of areas including orchestral, chamber, electronic, installation and film composition and is particularly interested in exploring notions of landscape and the physics of our natural world and universe in his work. Between 1999 and 2011 he studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with composers such as Michael Smetanin, Bozidar Kos and Trevor Pearce, graduating with a PhD and he is currently a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium.

McNamara's works have been performed by a variety of major orchestras and ensembles in Australia and overseas including Ensemble Modern, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Insomnio, Orchestra Victoria, Orkest de Ereprijs, Ensemble Offspring, the Tokyo Sinfonietta, Ensemble Nomad and the Stroma Ensemble. His