Alisdair Tait
Scottish cellist Alasdair Tait has performed in many of the world’s major concert halls and is much sought after as a chamber music coach and teacher. In 2009, Tait took up the position of head of chamber music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in addition to his continuing role as chief executive of the Young Concert Artists Trust. Prior to this appointment, he held the post of director of chamber music at the RNCM in Manchester, artistic director of the RNCM International Chamber Music Festival, professor of chamber music at the International Chamber Music Institute of the Reina Sofia Conservatoire in Madrid, and has been a regular professor at the Britten-Pears International Quartet Academy and Lake District Summer Music. He is frequently invited as jury member on international competitions such as Chamber Music Australia and the Joseph Haydn Wettbewerb, Vienna. Most recently, he has given master classes in Australia, Japan and Singapore as well as throughout Europe.
Tait studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, with Thomas Demenga. Upon his return to the UK in 1998, Tait joined the Belcea Quartet and was its cellist until 2006.
Tait has participated in many of the world’s important festivals including Edinburgh, Salzburg, Schubertiade, Risør, Delft, Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, and Bath, performing alongside artists including Piotr Andrezewski, Christian Zacharias, Kathryn Stott, Imogen Cooper, Aleksander Madzar, Isabelle van Keulen, Alexander Janicek, Valentin Erben, Borodin Quartet, Heinz Holliger, Michael Collins, Simon Keenlyside, Dame Anne Murray, and Lisa Milne.
In 2004, he formed the Ulysses Ensemble, a group of international chamber musicians dedicated to exploring the various musical styles and genres of the 20th and 21st centuries. They have formed a close relationship with the Aldeburgh Festival, participating in two residencies culminating in their inaugural concert at the 2005 festival. Since then they have appeared at Wigmore Hall with Christine Schäfer in Pierrot Lunaire and Het Concertgebouw in 2009.
