Peter Stafford Wilson enters his thirty third season as Music Director of the Westerville Symphony at Otterbein University. A Westerville resident, Maestro Wilson leads the Orchestra's three Ron Lykins Concert Series Masterworks programs in addition to the ever popular Sounds of the Summer celebration. This season he also leads the Sounds of Independence and Field of Heroes events. During his tenure, Wilson has been actively involved in the Westerville Symphony’s collaboration with the Westerville Public Library, Tunes n Tales, a unique forty year collaboration that was featured at the 1996 meeting of the Ohio Library Conference.

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In 2007 the Orchestra appeared, under Wilson’s leadership, at the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, and has been a regular feature on Classical 101 radio’s popular program, Music in Mid Ohio. Wilson is a member of the adjunct faculty at Otterbein University where he has also conducted performances of the Otterbein Opera Theater.

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The Springfield Symphony Orchestra welcomed Wilson as its Music Director in 2002, and he leads that orchestra in ten concerts per year. Concurrent with his activities in Westerville and Springfield, Wilson also maintains a busy schedule of guest appearances with ballet companies throughout the country, this season leading fifteen performances of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with the Kansas City Ballet. This year Wilson accepted an invitation to join the Board of Directors of the International Conductors Guild, a service organization serving professional conductors worldwide.

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Wilson recently concluded a twenty eight year tenure as Associate Conductor of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra where he led the nationally renowned educational concerts as well as classical and pops subscription events. As Music Director of the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestra he has led concerts at the national conferences of the Music Educators National Conference and the League of American Orchestras, and has led the ensemble on four international tours, including a highly acclaimed tour to China in 2005. In 2015 he led the Orchestra in its debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall, and returned to that venue with the CSYO in June 2018. Upon his departure the CSO bestowed the George Hardesty Award for Leadership, and the Greater Columbus Arts Council awarded its Educator of the Year award to Wilson.

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Wilson's schedule of guest appearances continues to be extensive, with recent invitations from the Seattle Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, and the orchestras of Phoenix, Dallas, Charlotte, North Carolina, Syracuse, Erie, and Chautauqua. He also has had extended relationships with the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. His ballet conducting appearances have been with the Philadelphia Ballet, the Oklahoma City Ballet, and multi season commitments with BalletMet Columbus and the Tulsa Ballet.

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Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Wilson studied at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, where he was a leading advocate of contemporary music. He has studied with such noted conductors as Thomas Schippers, Claudio Abbado, Louis Lane, Dennis Russell Davies, and Richard Lert. When not conducting, Wilson is an avid golfer, and is a gourmet cook and wine enthusiast. Wilson is married to Barbara Karam Wilson, Director of Corporate Tax for White Castle System, and they reside in Westerville with their two rescue kitties, Murphy and Smidgen.