Duncan McTier

Since winning the 1982 Isle of Man International Double Bass Competition, Duncan McTier has established a reputation as one of the world’s foremost double bass soloists and teachers.
His performances in major concert halls and at festivals such as Bath and Kuhmo have inspired a host of superlatives from critics.

Duncan McTier has appeared as soloist in more than twenty countries, with many leading orchestras, including the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, English and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw and Lausanne Chamber Orchestras.

He has made more than fifty solo recordings for radio, television and record companies and his Tarantella CD, with pianist Kathron Sturrock, was described in The Strad as containing “some of the most refined bass playing you are ever likely to hear”. Two more CDs, Capriccio and Sonata, have since been released to much critical acclaim.

Born in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, Duncan McTier obtained a degree in mathematics at Bristol University before joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra. After seven years as principal bass of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, he returned to England to concentrate on a career as soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

Composers who have written works especially for him include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Robin Holloway, John Casken, John Hawkins and Gavin Bryars. Duncan McTier has been Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Winterthur.

He gives masterclasses all over the world and holds a summer course at the Academie de Musique in Sion, Switzerland. Honours awarded him include Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music and Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music.

He is a member of the Nash Ensemble and the Fibonacci Sequence. Since the 2007-2008 academic year, Duncan McTier is Head Professor of the Double Bass Unidad Editorial Chair of the Reina Sofía School of Music.