Douglas McNabney

Department of Performance (Schulich School of Music)

Courses

MUEN 560 Chamber Music Ensemble
MUEN 561 2nd Chamber Music Ensemble

Biography

Born in Toronto, violist Douglas McNabney is one of Canada’s distinguished chamber musicians. An international performing career has taken him to Holland, Belgium, France, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, Switzerland, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, in addition to his appearances throughout Canada and the U.S.A. He has recorded for, among others, BRT (Brussels), Radio Bremen, RTE (Dublin), Finnish Broadcasting (Helsinki), Sudwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Karlsruhe), Norwegian Radio (Oslo), Radio Sweden (Stockholm), NPR (USA), and the CBC. His recording on the Oxingale label of the Mozart Divertimento with Jonathan Crow and Matt Haimovitz was nominated for a Juno in 2007 and his Dorian recording of Mahler with the Smithsonian Chamber Players was nominated for a Grammy in 2008.

As one of Canada's most active chamber musicians, he has appeared as guest artist with the leading chamber music groups and societies across Canada. His chamber music partners have included Canadians Marc-André Hamelin, Louis Lortie, André Laplante, Anton Kuerti, James Ehnes and renowned soloists Menahem Pressler, Steven Isserlis, Jamie Buswell, William Preucil, Miriam Fried, among many others. He has performed with the SuperNova Quartet, the Crow-Haimovitz-McNabney Trio, the Orford Quartet, the Penderecki Quartet, the Alcan Quartet, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the St Lawrence Quartet, Sante Fe Pro Musica, Millennium, the Gryphon Trio, the Allegri String Quartet and has participated in festivals in Domaine Forget, Lanaudière, Orford, Galway International Festival (Ireland), the Scotia Festival, Kammermusikfest Kloster Kamp, Linfort (Germany), Festival of the Sound, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, BargeMusic, (New York), and many others.

Also renowned as an arts administrator, Douglas McNabney was Artistic Director of the Domaine Forget Music Festival and Academy from 2001 until 2005. He was Chair of the Department of Performance of McGill University from 2004 to 2008 during a period of extensive renewal and growth of the Faculty.

He was named Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music Festival in September 2010 where he has been responsible for the implementation of new programs for training young artists – The Chamber Music Institute and The Art of Song - that reflect his preoccupation with the education and promotion of the next generation of performing artists.

Douglas McNabney is currently Professor of Chamber Music and Head of Strings at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University and pursues a busy schedule of appearances as soloist and guest artist in festivals and with chamber music societies and ensembles across North America and in Europe.