UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 03 | Feb.
8, 2001
Musical couple make UBC home
Duo enjoys one less long distance relationship
by Bruce Mason staff writer
Violist David Harding and Flutist Lorna McGhee are among
the most sought
after musicians of their generation. They are also married and
teaching at UBC
where they are now able to spend time together, including onstage,
while pursuing
individual, international careers.
Harding, an assistant professor in Music since July 1999, is a
member of Triskelion,
a new Canadian string trio, and the Toronto String Quartet.
McGhee, a sessional instructor since last September, performs and records
with the Mobius ensemble in Europe.
She will be a guest artist with Triskelion in the School of Music's Pacific
Spirit Concert Series, Sunday, Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. in the Recital
Hall, 6361 Memorial
Rd. Tickets -- $20 for adults, $10 for students and seniors -- are available at
the door.
"We're on the road a great deal," says Harding. "In fact we met in '97 at a
festival in Scotland and were engaged three months later. Our wedding -- on
the northern tip of Cape Breton in 1998 -- was complete with local fiddlers."
"Then I went back to Indiana University, where I had been an
associate professor
since 1990. Lorna accepted a position at the University of Michigan and I put
thousands of kilometres on my Toyota, mostly visiting her."
Triskelion is an ancient symbol composed of three branches radiating from a
centre. The aptly named trio -- which released a highly regarded
premiere recording
of their arrangement of Bach's Goldberg Variations last
year -- includes well-known
violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Bryan Epperson, based in
Baltimore and Toronto
respectively.
Harding now has one less long-distance relationship.
"When David was offered the UBC job we thought
long and hard,"
says McGhee. "I could have gone back to my old job in London, back
to the treadmill
and life in a huge city, where neither of us would have been our own creative
boss."
Her `old job' was with the BBC Symphony. One of the world's
finest flute
players, McGhee was appointed co-principal flute in that orchestra at the age
of 22. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she earned
the top honour,
the Queen's Commendation for Excellence.
"The first year at UBC was quite an adjustment -- I made eight trips
to Europe to play with Mobius," she says. Now she also teaches privately and
performs with the best local musicians as well as continuing to
play and record
internationally.
Harding, a product of the famed Julliard School, has been a member
of the Canadian
Opera Company, Toronto Symphony, Chester String Quartet, and Tafelmusik.
He composed the string arrangements for rocker Tom Cochrane's Juno
award-winning
album Mad, Mad World and is busy with diverse recording and film projects.
"I left the Toyota back in Indiana. We have a home at the edge of
the Endowment
Lands and get around on mountain bikes," he says.
"The ocean and mountains remind me of my home in Scotland and we're meeting
an amazing number of accomplished local artists," adds McGhee.
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