Gervase Alan de Peyer was born in London, the eldest of three children of Everard Esmé Vivian de Peyer, and his wife, Edith Mary ( Bartlett). He attended
Bedales School, and was awarded a scholarship to the
Royal College of Music, where he studied clarinet with
Frederick Thurston and piano with Arthur Alexander. Towards the end of World War II, when he was aged 18, he joined the
Royal Marines Band Service. He returned to the Royal College of Music after the war and subsequently studied in Paris with
Louis Cahuzac. In 1950 he was a founding member of the
Melos Ensemble for which he continued to play until 1974. Their recordings of
chamber music for both
woodwinds and
strings were reissued in 2011, including the works for larger ensembles which were the reason to found the ensemble, such as
Beethoven's Septet and
Octet,
Schubert's Octet and Ravel's
Introduction and Allegro, played with
Osian Ellis (harp),
Richard Adeney (flute),
Emanuel Hurwitz and
Ivor McMahon (
violin),
Cecil Aronowitz (
viola) and
Terence Weil (
cello). From 1956–73 he was principal clarinet of the
London Symphony Orchestra. He was a founding member of
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York in 1969 and played with them for 20 years. He conducted the
English Chamber Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Melos Sinfonia; he directed the London Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble and was the associate conductor of the Haydn Orchestra. In 1959 he began teaching at the
Royal Academy of Music. and
Miklós Rózsa's Sonata for Clarinet Solo op. 41 in New York in 1987. ==Selective discography==