Biography
Born in London on 16 July 1959, Joanna MacGregor received her earliest schooling at home until she turned eleven. Piano lessons began under her mother’s guidance and continued at Cambridge University, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Van Cliburn Piano Institute. She composed for television well before her inventive approach attracted wider attention. Though rooted in classical technique, her curiosity reaches across every genre and culture. International performances have placed her alongside partners as diverse as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Andy Sheppard, or Michael Tilson Thomas and Moses Taiwa Molelekwa. Teaching commitments have included a professorship at Gresham College from 1997 to 2000. Among the composers whose scores she champions are Django Bates, Harrison Birtwistle, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow, Arvo Pärt, Erik Satie, Nitin Sawhney, Domenico Scarlatti, and Talvin Singh. Multimedia presentations have taken her to venues in London and China, several realized through her ensemble SoundCircus, while festival appearances and directorial roles have multiplied over the years.
An unrelenting explorer, MacGregor’s distinctive gifts have earned broad acclaim, numerous prizes, and honorary doctorates. Beyond the concert platform she has issued several volumes on music, many aimed at younger readers, fronted a television series of her own, scripted a radio drama centered on Satie, and transformed Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle into a stage musical.
An unrelenting explorer, MacGregor’s distinctive gifts have earned broad acclaim, numerous prizes, and honorary doctorates. Beyond the concert platform she has issued several volumes on music, many aimed at younger readers, fronted a television series of her own, scripted a radio drama centered on Satie, and transformed Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle into a stage musical.