Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Bowling Green, Ohio Sentinel-Tribune: McGill 'Brothers use music to rise above troubled streets'

Irish Pianist Michael McHale with Clarinetist Anthony McGill & Flutist Demarre McGill

Twitter:
Post-Concert @bgsu (Bowling Green State University) from @michaelmchale (Michael McHale) with classical music's top brother-act @mcgillab (Anthony McGill) and @DemarreMcGill (Demarre McGill) - great playing!!



DeMarre McGill (left) speaks near his brother Anthony McGill (right) during a question and answer session with BGSU (Bowling Green State University) students at Donnell Theater.


Bowling Green, Ohio
Sentinel-Tribune
Posted: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 9:49 am


Demarre and Anthony McGill came up with a lot of people watching out for them.

First of all were their parents, both teachers. Growing up on Chicago's South Side, they had to fend off plenty of negative influences, said Anthony McGill, 35.

But Demarre McGill, 39, said their parents made sure they were kept out of trouble.
Instead they were in a local youth orchestra full of talented young African-American musicians like themselves, all from the South Side.
There were music teachers and older students.
For Demarre McGill, there was internationally-renowned flutist Sir James Galway.
McGill recalled meeting him in Chicago at a cafe. The young flutist asked Galway, one of his heroes, for his cadenza on the Khachaturian flute concerto. Galway apologized, saying it hadn't been published.
Some days later, McGill received a package from Switzerland. It contained a manuscript with the cadenza.
They had so many people who watched out for them that now being models for younger musicians "is part of us," Demarre McGill said.
Anthony McGill recalled being approached by a young, classical African-American musician who said his mother put the McGill Brothers' photo up on the refrigerator.
The McGill Brothers were on campus Monday as the Dorothy E. and DuWayne H. Hansen Series artists.
They met with students, taught a master class and performed an evening recital.

No comments: