Born in Bangor, North Wales, Peter Sparks studied at the Royal Northern College of Music Junior Department and read music at Cambridge University studying with Dame Thea King. He subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Angela Malsbury and Nick Rodwell, where he won the Geoffrey Hawkes Clarinet and Harold Craxton Chamber Music competitions. He was also principal clarinet of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and Verbier Festival Orchestra.

As a soloist, he recently performed in the Park Lane Group 2008 series, giving premières by Nicola Lefanu and Peter Wiegold. He also played live on BBC Radio 3's 'In Tune'. He has twice reached the Finals of the Royal Over-Seas League competition, performed at Cheltenham International Music Festival and was privileged to represent the RAM at the late Frederick Thurston's Centenary Concert, where his playing was described as "brilliant" (The Clarinet magazine).

As a concerto soloist, he has performed Copland Clarinet Concerto in St. James's Church, Piccadilly; Elizabeth Maconchy Clarinet Concertino in Norwich and London; John Adams Gnarly Buttons, under Stephen Cleobury; the world première of Peter Wiegold's bass clarinet concerto, New York, with Southbank Sinfonia; Weber Concerto No. 1 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; and Mozart Clarinet Concerto with the English Symphony Orchestra.

Peter is a busy chamber musician, performing with London Winds (directed by Michael Collins), the Farrington Ensemble and Gallimaufry Ensemble in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall (Proms 2006), Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and in International Festivals in Hong Kong and Paris. He regularly broadcasts on radio and TV in the UK and abroad and has recorded for Naxos, Black Box Records and has recently completed Walton's Façade with 'Kit and the Widow'.

As an orchestral musician, Peter has played with many of the country’s leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Glyndebourne Touring Opera, London Sinfonietta, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Manchester Camerata, Ulster Orchestra and English Symphony Orchestra. Peter's next project will be performing Dead Wedding at the Barbican later in January 2008.