Peter Graham (pseudonym of Jaroslav Stastny-Pokorny) studied organ at the Brno Conservatory, and went on studying composition under Alois Pinos at the Janacek Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU), also in Brno. After completing his studies, he worked temporarily in quite a number of capacities - as an accompanist at the Conservatory, in theatre, as a music director in radio, as an employee of the Czech Music Fund, as a music school teacher, and as music editor for Czech TV in Brno. At present he is employed as a professor at JAMU, Brno, and until 2009 he was the artistic director of Exposition of the New Music Festival (since 1993). His greatest interest, however, is in composition. Graham says of his own music, that it "grows as does timber in a forest", without predetermined plans and goals. He is concerned with creation itself rather than with the cultivation of the personality: " I am what I do." Several of his works have met with success at performances in Great Britain, Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, Romania, Holland, Sweden, France and the USA. In 1993 his chamber cantata Der Erste gained him second prize in the Musica iudaica festival's international competition for works on texts by Franz Kafka. The famous ensemble Arditti String Quartet performed his early String Quartet No. 1 at the 2nd Prague Contemporary Music Festival Contempuls (on 9 November 2009), a selection from his earlier composition Caprichos (inspired by the famous cycle of paintings by Francesco Goya) was performed by DAMA DAMA ensemble at the New Music Exposition 2010 in Brno.
