Peter Danish exemplifies the success of a multi-passionate creative. As the Classical Editor for Broadway.com, a novelist, playwright, and composer, he has mastered the art of managing multiple projects. Reflecting on his approach, Peter shares, “I worked in television for years… I would say that what I personally find is when I’ve got a deadline for a work project, something I’m writing for a client—whether it’s a jingle, song, article, whatever particular discipline it’s in—I find if I run into a roadblock, I’ll pick up my guitar and that’ll work a different part of the brain and then come back to it. If I’m at the piano trying to figure out something, I’ll sit down and work on an article, just to get a different part of the brain. Sometimes, you hit a wall. Step aside from the wall. Don’t keep banging your head against it… I personally find that not razor-focusing on something helps me. It gets other juices flowing and other ideas flowing, and then I can come back to something with a new perspective.”
Unlike some creatives who follow strict schedules, Peter admits that method doesn’t work for him. “I could never do that. I find that once the creativity starts flowing, whatever else I have to do, I put it aside. Don’t turn off the faucet until it runs out. Then you can worry about getting to the other things. But when creativity strikes, just go with it.”
Peter’s creative pursuits all share a common thread of storytelling. “I’m a voracious reader… We could talk about that for an entire show, but that was my passion early on, to write. For a very long time, I wrote for other people. I was writing at various television networks, and then it wasn’t until I hit 40 years old that I decided I wanted to write for myself.”
In 2014, Peter published his debut novel, The Tenor, a WWII-era story about an opera singer reassigned as a soldier who meets a young Maria Callas. “He met this young, 15-year-old girl who was this extraordinary singer, but she was starving to death, and he couldn’t fathom that idea after hearing her sing. He was sneaking her food and sneaking her family things. That’s the basic storyline. The novel did very well, which encouraged me to write another one.”
The pandemic presented a unique challenge to create original music. “I’ve played in bands for 1,000 years, and during COVID, Rita Harvey came to me and said, ‘Peter, I’m a singer. I need to sing.’ They were not playing anywhere. They were not touring anywhere. So she knew that I wrote music all the time. And she said, ‘Do you have anything we could possibly do together?’”
Their first collaboration was a version of Ave Maria, arranged by Peter and originally performed with legendary soprano Aprile Millo for Children of Haiti Hurricane Relief. “Rita said, ‘I would love to do that song. I always loved that one.’” Peter reminded her it was a duet and Rita accepted the challenge, performing both parts, and in Peter’s words, the results were “ravishing.” After that, he was keen for her to collaborate further. “This idea came during COVID, when everyone was so depressed and not seeing anyone and not going out and not doing anything, that we had this idea for a collection of prayers from various faiths—sacred scriptures, sacred texts—but put to original music.”
This led to the creation of Simple Prayers for Challenging Times, an album of 11 tracks featuring prayers from various faiths set to original music. “We decided maybe we’ll throw in a couple of traditional ones, just so people can hear some familiar melodies, but we’ll do new arrangements of them. And we gave it a bit of a classical crossover, new agey feel—an ethereal, gauzy kind of thing, Enya-ish type style, Hayley Westenra, that kind of sound.”
Language diversity was also central to the project. “I was lucky, because Rita speaks a lot of languages. On the first CD, she sang in eight different languages… no matter what I threw at her, she was game. That was fun! You know, she sings Russian, Croatian, English, French, Italian, Spanish, but that Hebrew—I really didn’t make it easy for her, because she’s also a stickler for authenticity. She wanted it to sound correct. So she really worked really hard with folks to make absolutely certain that she was authentic, because we didn’t want it to be cultural appropriation. We wanted it to be a tribute.”
Another notable collaboration was A Prayer for Ukraine, recorded with the Infinito String Quartet in Kyiv during the war. “I’d heard the prayer as a child, normally done by a great big group of old men in long black coats with long black beards and big funny hats… so I thought, Rita Harvey—a natural conclusion. When I played it for her, she said, ‘Wow, what am I supposed to do with this?’ And I said, ‘Everything.’ We recorded the track, and she is every voice on the track. It’s like eight tracks of voice, and it’s really, really cool. She was up for trying all of the low notes, all of the crazy high notes, and then we went into the studio and blended it into chords. So that was a lot of fun and challenging.”
Peter expresses his aspiration for the artists he collaborates with to “elevate my work. Make it something more than it was.” Yet, when you hear this duo perform, it’s evident that the inspiration flows both ways. Rita’s clear, vibrant soprano soars, perfectly complemented by Peter’s rich, evocative soundscapes. Peter’s editorial background also plays a role in their success. Speaking to his two sides he says, “Artists tend to be indulgent, because it’s just the nature of art, and you never, ever want to tamper or tamp down someone’s creativity. Ever. But that doesn’t mean everything you create is great. I think everyone should be allowed to run wild with their ideas, but a good editor is your best friend. Because it’s a fresh perspective, it’s a more analytical perspective. Plus, when you hear something in your head, it’s like listening to your voice on a recording: ‘Wow, do I really sound like that?’ It’s the same thing with writing and composing.”
As an editor, Peter also strives to be kind to artists. “You can’t judge someone by their worst moment. You’ve got to judge them by their whole performance.”
Tune in on Thursday, November 21, to hear Peter Danish and Rita Harvey perform tracks from their debut album, alongside selections from their upcoming release, on our YouTube channel and Channel 10 Connecticut.
