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Marshall McGuire (born 1965) is an Australianharpist, teacher, conductor and musical administrator.
McGuire was born inMelbourne in 1965.[1]
His interest in theharp was sparked when he sawHarpo Marx playing the instrument in the filmA Night at the Opera.[1] He was taught by Huw Jones, harpist with theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra.[1] He studied atVCASS, theVictorian College of the Arts, in Paris withMarie-Claire Jamet and theRoyal College of Music, London with Rachel Masters, and baroque harp with Frances Kelly.[citation needed]
From 1988 to 1992, he was principal harpist with theAustralian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. He has been a member of theELISION Ensemble since 1988 and was lecturer in Harp at theSydney Conservatorium of Music.
He has performed as soloist with theAustralian Chamber Orchestra,English String Orchestra,Les Talens Lyriques,Australian Brandenburg Orchestra,Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and theAustralia Ensemble and has appeared at international festivals including Aldeburgh, Melbourne, Milan, Geneva, Brighton, Vienna, Huddersfield, Huntington, andAdelaide.[citation needed]
He has commissioned and premiered more than 100 new works for harp, this achievement was recognised by the 1997 Sounds Australian Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to the Presentation of Australian Music. His commissions include composers such asMichael Finnissy,Elena Kats-Chernin,Andrew Ford,Gerard Brophy,David Chesworth,Damien Ricketson,Matthew Shlomowitz andMatthew Hindson.[citation needed]
First performances by McGuire include works byRoss Edwards,Anne Boyd,Barry Conyngham,Alessandro Solbiati andLiza Lim. Many composers have sought his guidance in their writing for the harp. He writes: "Composers are always seeking information from harpists about what can and can't be done when writing for harp. While we should always be flattered when approached by a composer, we should also be aware of the boundaries that we set, so that we don't end up with unplayable music – I'd probably have said 'No' to bothRichard Wagner andRichard Strauss. Mostly, less is more..."[2]
McGuire has released numerous recordings and has received fourARIA Music Award nominations, winning the award for Best Classical Album forBower (withGenevieve Lacey). Artists with whom he has worked and recorded includeRiley Lee (shakuhachi); Patricia Pollett (viola); and Jane Edwards and Merlyn Quaife (sopranos). In 2011 he recordedEugene Goossens' Concerto Piece for oboe and two harps with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, conducted by SirAndrew Davis, for Chandos.[citation needed]
In 1998, withLyle Chan, he co-createdA Tale of Two Cities, a radio feature broadcast onABC Classic FM, which was a monologue based on the lives of such gay composers asNed Rorem,Leonard Bernstein,Samuel Barber,Virgil Thomson,Aaron Copland,Paul Bowles,Francis Poulenc,Stanley Bate andReynaldo Hahn.[3]
He made his conducting debut in performances ofMozart'sThe Magic Flute withPacific Opera in 1999. From 1996 to 2000 he created a series of chamber music concerts for theSydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival, the first of their type in the world. From 1999 to 2001 he was curator of the Twilight Chamber Music Series forSydney Festival, and in 2003 he was artist-in-residence at theBundanon Trust. In 2010 he conducted performances ofPurcell'sDido and Aeneas at the Macau International Music Festival.[citation needed]
In 2003 McGuire was appointed artistic director of the Seymour Group.[citation needed]
From 2013 to 2015, he curated, withRichard Tognetti, the "Haydn for Everyone" series forMelbourne International Arts Festival, programming performances ofall 68 string quartets byJoseph Haydn, featuring quartets from Australia and around the world including Debussy Quartet,Modigliani Quartet, Flinders Quartet, Orava Quartet, Quartz, Ironwood, Australian Haydn Ensemble,Australian Chamber Orchestra, and London Haydn Quartet.[citation needed]
From 2015 - 2025, he was Director of Programming at theMelbourne Recital Centre.[citation needed][when?]
In 2020 he curated the Chamber Landscapes series at UKARIA for theAdelaide Festival. Composer + Citizen featured performances by Heath Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, Anthony Marwood,Siobhan Stagg, Ludovico's Band, and the Australian premiere of Lembit Beecher andHannah Moscovitch'sI Have no Stories to Tell You.[citation needed]
He was artistic co-director of the Australian baroque ensemble Ludovico's Band, specialising in Italian and Spanish works of the 17th century, from the group's creation in 2002 until it folded in 2022. Previous performances with the band includeMonteverdi'sOrfeo at the 2007Queensland Music Festival;J.S. Bach'sSt John Passion for Melbourne Recital Centre; a baroque triple bill forVictorian Opera; Mozart'sThe Marriage of Figaro for Victorian Opera; a semi-staged performance of Monteverdi'sEighth Book of Madrigals –Love + the Art of War; and a CDThe Italian Ground onABC Classics.[citation needed]
In 2003 McGuire was awarded an inaugural creative fellowship from theState Library Victoria to research the works ofPeggy Glanville-Hicks. The fellowship enabled him to producepiano reductions of Glanville-Hicks'Letters from Morocco and the final scene from the operaSappho, and a new edition of the Sonata for Harp.[4][5]
He received aChurchill Fellowship in 2004 to travel to San Francisco and New York to research baroque performance and contemporary music ensembles.[citation needed]
He is the founding president of the New Music Network; was chair of the music committee of the New South Wales Ministry of the Arts;[6] was a member of theAustralian Youth Orchestra Artistic Advisory Committee; and was music director of the AYO's National Music Camp in 2003, 2006 and 2008. He was the inaugural curator of the Utzon Music Series from 2006 until 2011 at theSydney Opera House, and in December 2006 was appointed executive manager, artistic planning, with theWest Australian Symphony Orchestra. He was a participant in theAustralia 2020 Summit held in April 2008 atParliament House, Canberra.[7]
In 2018 he was on the selection jury for the ClassicalNEXT conference in Rotterdam, and a jury member for the piano trio section of theFranz Schubert und die Musik der Moderne competition inGraz, Austria.[citation needed]
McGuire was appointed chair of the board of theAustralian Music Centre in 2021.[8]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Awakening |
|
| Spring Sea – Music of Dreams (withRiley Lee) |
|
| Floating World (with Riley Lee) |
|
| Resonance |
|
| Bower (withGenevieve Lacey) |
|
The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally asAIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Bower (withGenevieve Lacey) | Best Independent Classical Album or EP | Won | [9][10] |
TheARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres ofAustralian music.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Awakening | Best Classical Album | Nominated | |
| 2000 | Spring Sea (withRiley Lee) | Best World Music Album | Nominated | [11] |
| 2003 | The Twentieth Century Harp | Best Classical Album | Nominated | |
| 2021 | Bower (withGenevieve Lacey) | Best Classical Album | Won | [12][13] |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
