Peter Witte

Peter Witte has served as dean of the Conservatory of Music at University of the Pacific since July 2017. For three decades, he has worked as a conductor, educator, performer and academic leader serving in or leading music and dance programs in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Missouri and California. Across institutions ranging from 2,000 to 25,000 students, his work has focused on strengthening curricula, advancing more expansive accreditation standards, and improving student enrollment, retention and graduation outcomes.

Invited to Pacific to develop a modern vision for California’s first conservatory, Witte has guided significant academic and musical growth. He led the creation of six new undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including a hybrid-modality graduate degree, and a distinctive Bachelor of Music in music therapy that leads to board certification within eight semesters. Under his leadership, Pacific’s Conservatory has recruited more than 45 faculty and staff members, substantially increasing both cultural representation and the number of the full-time faculty.

Witte has advanced initiatives focused on access and inclusion in music education. In 2025–26, he partnered with composer Gabriela Lena Frank—winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Music—to launch Pacific’s Inclusive Music Initiative, which broadens the cultural traditions centered in music study and performance. He also initiated a long-term collaboration with the Institute for Composer Diversity in 2020 helping increase the percentage of works by historically underrepresented composers performed at Pacific from 26% to 46% in recent years.

In a work entitled “Performing Arts in the Next America” (Routledge, 2023), Witte examined how emerging generations of artists and educators are reshaping inclusive musical practices. He consults nationally and internationally, having lectured in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and advises music schools and departments large and small throughout the United States.

As a conductor, Witte has led performances of works of Mozart, Schoenberg and Stravinsky with musicians from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Atlanta Opera. He has also helped expand performance opportunities for students and faculty at venues including Carnegie Hall, (le) poisson rouge, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Stanford and in festivals across Europe and China.

Witte played a key role in building the acoustically superb Bailey Center for the Performing Arts at Kennesaw State University. More recently, he helped launch Pacific’s Community Music School and helped place some $5M worth of artist-level music technology and instruments in Pacific students’ hands. Over his career, he has helped secure more than $66 million in philanthropic support for arts education.

Witte holds degrees in horn performance and conducting from the University of Michigan, serves as an advisor to organizations including the Presser Foundation and the Institute for Composer Diversity and as an evaluator for the National Association of Schools of Music, by whom he was elected chair of the NASM Commission on Accreditation.