About MusBook.com

MusBook is in start-up phase and the site will be formally launched early in 2009.

Musbook.com is a web portal, social network and digital publishing website that hosts a global community of musicians and music lovers. It was founded in 2008 by Australian conductor and academic Peter Tregear and English violinist Simon Hewitt Jones.

Our founding vision is really simple, but we think its effect will be profound. We want to empower and enrich the world's community of musicians by enabling not just professional relationships, but also relationships between musicians and music lovers, to develop in ways that have previously never been possible. We'll support these new connections with a comprehensive range of services, tools, and information that will help musicians drive forward the development of musical culture like never before.

We want MusBook.com to become the leading 'creative commons' for Classical, Jazz and Contemporary music, and to facilitate the radical broadening of access to resources that's already happening online. No more will valuable tools and resources be limited to major music companies and institutions - now every musician can reach out to audiences and build a fanbase from scratch, without spending a lot of money.

Widening access to quality music education will be a core part of our work. If creative skills are the key to survival in an unpredictable future, then the creative arts should be integral to the world's major educational systems, not just fun addenda. We are especially keen to harness the great repository of teaching knowledge that currently occurs in studios and schools around the world, but which is otherwise unavailable, and so an integral part of the site will be a 'Conservatoire sans frontières' - online music education without borders, available to all.

Our vision is global. From our offices in Melbourne and London we're creating a new infrastructure for people to create, enjoy and share music. Nothing less will do: the 20th Century hierarchies of music production are broken, and a new creative dynamic is necessary in order for our great musical traditions not just to survive, but to evolve and thrive.

If you are similarly inspired to help realise our vision -- be it through advice, suggestion, investment, or perhaps even joining our international team, we are always keen to hear from you.  Post your ideas on our 'feedback' forum, or contact us at support [at] musbook [dot] com

Executive Management

Peter Tregear (CEO)

A graduate of the Universities of Cambridge and Melbourne, Peter Tregear has many years of experience in research, performing, teaching and administration of music, in both the United Kingdom and Australia. He has held lectureship positions in music at the Universities of Cambridge, Queensland, and King's College London, and has mounted several modern revivals and world premieres of operatic and orchestral works. He served as Dean of Trinity College, Melbourne between 2006 and 2008, and was subsequently Education Development Director for an Australian technology startup. Web: www.PeterTregear.net

Role: Peter runs the ship, executes the big visions, balances the books, keeps people happy, and tells the world about us!

Simon Hewitt Jones (Creative Director)

Simon performs internationally as a solo and collaborative violinist. He has been featured in many radio broadcasts, international festivals and concert series in the UK, Europe, and the Middle East, and will make a solo tour of the UK in 2009 including a debut recital at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall. He is a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music, and artistic director of our partner organization, Music And The City. Simon currently lives in Berlin (Germany), where he is researching the development of international cultural trends as a scholar of the Leverhulme Trust. Web: www.SimonHewittJones.com

Role: Simon generates ridiculous amounts of ideas and invents ways of solving problems musicians don't know they have yet!

Management Team

Gary D. Beswick (Advertising Sales Director)

A conservatory-trained violist, performer and teacher, Gary is - like many of MusBook's team - a very experienced musician and performer. As an advertising professional he brings a wealth of experience from his work with many major arts and culture publications in the UK, including The Strad, Collections, Muso, Choir & Organ, Sfz & International Piano.

Role: Gary is a master of useful connections! He brings interesting and useful promotions to the MusBook audience, and provides quality advertisers with access to our highly engaged community of musicians.