Daniel McKay

Daniel McKay began his musical studies at an early age under the guidance of his parents, both of whom are practicing music teachers. Moving to the Blue Mountains (NSW) in the early 1980’s, Daniel became well known as a multi-instrumentalist performing within a myriad of popular and jazz styles. During this period, Daniel made many recordings for both commercial and independent release.

Active in both guitar education and performance, Daniel has studied extensively in both these areas with two of Australia’s most highly respected guitar teachers, Greg Pikler and Timothy Kain, as well as master classes with John Williams, Remi Boucher, Maximo Diego-Pujol and Pavel Steidl. Under Timothy Kain’s guidance Daniel graduated from the Australian National University School of Music with a Bachelor of Music (1st Class Honours) and subsequently attained the degree of Master of Music with Honours.

Daniel has been a major prizewinner in many competitions, most recently the 2002 Australian Guitar Competition, and has been heard in numerous live broadcasts for ABC radio in solo (including his prizewinning performance in the Australian Guitar Competition), duo and quartet performances. Daniel has given solo recitals for the classical guitar societies of Sydney, Brisbane, Western Australia, The Victorian College of the Arts and the Conservatorium of Wollongong, in addition to giving numerous solo and chamber music performances throughout Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, Canberra and regional NSW.

A solo CD featuring works of Dusan Bogdanovic, Leo Brouwer, Mauro Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Alexandre Tansman and Astor Piazzolla has just been released. A disc of works by Australian Composers is in preparation, due for release in 2005.

Daniel is considered one of Australia’s finest guitarists of the younger generation. This, along with his interest in contemporary Australian music and considerable ensemble playing skills, led in 1998 to an invitation to join Guitar Trek, widely recognised as among the very best of Australia’s chamber ensembles. Engagements have included several recitals for Musica Viva, the 2000 Sydney Festival, 2001 and 2002 Canberra International Chamber Music Festival, 2002 Darwin International Guitar Festival, and enormously successful tours of Europe in 1999 and 2002.

In great demand as a teacher, Daniel was recently invited to teach alongside guitarist Carlos Bonell (London), and Australian composers Phillip Houghton and Richard Charlton in the Sydney Guitar Society’s annual Summer School, and has been a guest tutor for some of Australia’s leading institutions. Daniel is currently teaching in the pre-tertiary guitar department at the Australian National University School of Music.