Sergio A. Mims: Demarre McGill is Named Chaired Principal Flute of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Demarre McGill

Sergio A. Mims forwards this press release:

Dallas Symphony Orchestra

Dallas, Texas (June 7, 2013) –- Music Director Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) announce the appointment of Demarre McGill as new Principal Flute in the Joy and Ronald Mankoff Chair. McGill joins the DSO having served as Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony for two seasons. He has held the same position with the San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. In 2003 McGill was recipient of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

With his appointment to the Dallas Symphony, McGill succeeds Jean Larson Garver, who has served as the DSO’s Principal Flute for 42 years and who will retire in July, 2013.

Originally from Chicago, McGill began playing the flute at age seven. McGill’s family is steeped in the performing arts: His mother is a theater actress in the Chicago area, and his brother Anthony McGill serves as Principal Clarinet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. In May, 2012 McGill and his brother performed the world premiere of Joel Puckett’s Concerto Duo for Flute and Clarinet with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra where they began their careers.

As a concerto soloist, Demarre McGill has also performed with the with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and Milwaukee Symphony, among others. An active chamber musician, McGill is a member of the Jacksonville, Florida-based Ritz Chamber Players and was a member of Chamber Music Society Two, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s program for emerging young artists. He is a founding member of San Diego-based The Myriad Trio and has participated in many national and international chamber music festivals, including Music from Angel Fire, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Marlboro Music and the Stellenbosch Chamber Music Festival in South Africa.

McGill has performed on PBS “Live From Lincoln Center” with the Chamber Music Society playing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. He has recorded Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 on the album Play Bach with pianist Awadagin Pratt and the St. Lawrence String Quartet (Angel Records), as well as a flute, viola & harp album entitled The Eye of Night with The Myriad Trio. Other television appearances include the A&E Network’s “The Gifted Ones,” NBC’s “Today” show and “Nightly News,” and as a teenager, “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.”

McGill is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Art of Élan, a chamber music organization in San Diego dedicated to bringing new audiences to classical music.

McGill holds a Bachelor's degree in Flute Performance from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Julius Baker and Jeffrey Khaner, and earned a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, where he continued his studies with Julius Baker.