American countertenor Peter Koniers is a staple in the Toronto early music scene. Alongside regular performances with Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and The Toronto Consort, Peter — with a few friends — founded Diapente, a vocal quintet specializing in music from the 15th through 17th centuries. Equally at home on the opera stage as in the concert hall, he has performed various roles, ranging from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Francesca Caccini’s La liberazione di Ruggiero, to Oberon (cover) in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He also directed a production of Antoine Dauvergne’s 1753 intermède Les troqueurs as an Opera McGill Horizons Project. He is an amateur clavichord and rebec player, and loves to sift through centuries-old manuscripts to uncover exciting music long forgotten. Past credits include Bach’s St John Passion with Julien Pregardien, Brahm’s Ein Deutsches Requiem under the direction of Kent Nagano, and too many Messiah’s to count.