David McGuinness
Director / keyboards
David McGuinness is one of the UK’s most versatile keyboard players, working in early music, traditional music, rock and classical. He was the youngest ever graduate of the University of York, and was awarded a PhD at the University of Glasgow for his studies in 16th century English music. He is the director of eclectic early music group Concerto Caledonia, collaborating with artists as diverse as Mark Padmore, the Tiger Lillies, Karen Matheson and Daniel Johnston.
David’s regular recital partners include the violinist/fiddler David Greenberg, sopranos Lisa Milne and Katharine Fuge, and the cellist Alison McGillivray. He has recorded two albums of Acadian folk songs with Suzie LeBlanc’s ensemble in Montréal, and is a guest artist with the Chris Norman Ensemble in the USA. He has appeared as a harpsichord soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
David McGuinness
His reconstruction of Allan Ramsay’s ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival, and he provided the string arrangements for the album I Trawl the Megahertz by Paddy McAloon, voted by Mojo Magazine one of the 50 most 'out there' albums of all time. He was the featured piano soloist on the soundtrack of Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, playing the fortepiano apparently played in the movie by Reese Witherspoon.
David is a contributor to Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, a guest lecturer at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and has given masterclasses at many universities including Case Western Reserve, McGill University in Montréal, and the University of South Alabama. In 2007 he produced John Purser’s 50-part history of Scottish music for BBC Radio Scotland.
Alison McGillivray
Alison McGillivray
Director, baroque cello & viola da gamba
Alison McGillivray was born and brought up in Glasgow. She studied cello at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with William Conway and at the Royal Academy of Music with Jennifer Ward Clarke.
Based in London since 1994, her career has focused on period instrument performance, with her time shared between the cello and the viola da gamba. She was principal cellist with The Academy of Ancient Music for 6 years, and now plays with The English Concert. She also works with Concerto Caledonia, Concordia, The Early Opera Company and The Bach Players and during 2000, played cello and viol in John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata Pilgrimage.
Her recordings include Geminiani’s Op 5 Cello Sonatas (Linn Records), lots of interesting things with Concerto Caledonia, and the CPE Bach A major cello concerto with The English Concert (Harmonia Mundi USA). Alison is professor of baroque cello at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.