Steering Group member
Biography
Andrew McTaggart graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he is now a Lecturer in Voice teaching in the Vocal and Performance department. As a baritone, Andy’s Edinburgh International Festival debut was singing Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs in the Usher Hall. Other notable concert engagements include Messiah at the Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall and the Bridgewater Hall and Belshazzar’s Feast with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He was a Young Artist with Scottish Opera and released his first solo disc in 2020 called A Landscape of Song with Timothy Dean, featuring the music of Finzi, Gurney, Howells, and Ireland.
He is the Chorus Master of James MacMillan’s Cumncok Tryst Festival Chorus, Director of Ayr Choral Union and the Wordsworth Singers and a conductor for the National Youth Choir of Great Brittain.
Which types of song leading do you specialise in?
I am a specialist with the changing voice for Tenors and Basses. I run lots of days introducing young people to classical music, their voices and the changes that happen during puberty. I teach a tapestry of techniques using science based learning as the foundation of all of my teaching.
Tell us your top three areas of expertise
Developing a choir strategy, singing pedagogy and song leading in the classical world.
Aside from singing, what couldn’t you live without?
I am a keen sewer, cook and gym goer.