Directory
Gina McCormack /Nigel Clayton
"...from all points of view a splendid performance"
"...a soloist who combines flair, excellent technique and a relaxed and easy-going rapport with the audience, few can compare with violinist Gina McCormack"
Duo - Instrumental
Instrumentation
- Gina McCormack - Violin
- Nigel Clayton - Piano
Repertoire
The duo offers a wide range of repertoire. Recent programmes have included works by Debussy, Fauré, Saint-Saens, Chausson, Mozart, Strauss, Brahms, Clara Schumann, Mendelssohn, Walton, Finzi, Ferguson, Wainberg, Prokofiev, Szymanowski, Sjogren, Sinding, Stenhammer and Grieg. Please get in touch to discuss programmes for future seasons.
Biography
Gina McCormack is well established as one of Britain’s leading artists, with regular performances as a soloist and chamber musician at venues across the country and abroad. She made her recital debut in London at the Wigmore Hall at the age of 21 and has appeared many times since then in both that hall and at the South Bank Centre, and at venues and Festivals across the country. Gina has performed as soloist with the Hallé and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the former Bournemouth Sinfonietta. Solo tours abroad have taken her to France, Norway, Denmark, the Czech Republic, South Africa and South America, and most recently to Austria and Switzerland.
Gina has over twenty years’ experience as a quartet leader. For many years she was the leader of the Sorrel Quartet, with whom she was frequently heard on BBC Radio Three. The quartet made twelve CDs for Chandos Records, of works by Britten, Mendelssohn, Schubert and the complete cycle of Shostakovich quartets. She then led the Maggini Quartet for two years, leaving that group in March 2010 to focus on her solo work, continuing a long association with her duo partner, pianist Nigel Clayton. Most recently, she spent two years as first violinist of the Brodsky Quartet, with a hugely busy concert schedule in the UK and abroad. Highlights were tours of Australia, New Zealand and Mexico. She made the tough decision to leave the group in February 2021, needing to be closer to home for family reasons, and returning once again to her solo work.
Gina McCormack teaches at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester, and also gives regular masterclasses both in the UK and at summer festivals abroad. She is Patron of Music in Peebles and helps run a summer concert series at Mellerstain House in the Scottish Borders.
Pianist Nigel Clayton is well-known for his superlative chamber music skills. He and Gina have worked together for about 40 years and are admired for their "near telepathic sense of ensemble" and their easy rapport with audiences.