“quite beautiful… Maginley prefers a relaxed flow, enhanced by an attractive tone and sure sense of architecture.” – Gramophone. Andrew Maginley is the first professional black classical lute player in modern history. A concert soloist and accompanist, his international career has spanned more than thirty years. He specialises in lutes and early guitars and is a champion of the 18th-century baroque lute.
Andrew has continued to give recitals online during the coronavirus pandemic and teaches lute and guitar. His special insterests include: Black musicians in Early Music; Baroque art and music in 17th and 18th-century Europe and the Americas; the multi-ethnic heritage of lute/guitar techniques. He is also an accomplished portrait artist.
We had a chance to ask Andrew a few questions in the lead up to his digital concert as a part of the 2021 Liberation International Music Festival. Here’s what he had to say:
What do you love most about being a lutenist?
The variety of music performance possibilities. I play repertory from the Medieval through to early Early Classical.
Solo music to Opera and everything inbewteen!
Where are you from originally & what brought you to the UK?
I am from New York City. I moved to Bremen Germany to on a Fulbright Scholarship, then I met my future wife contralto Emma Curtis in Stuttgart. She is British, and we decided to get married and move to the U.K.
What is your favourite place on Earth?
Yucatan in Mexico
Who is your favourite composer(s)?
J.S. Bach & S.L. Weiss
What or who inspires you most?
The music.
If you hadn’t become a musician, what job would you have wanted to do?
There was nothing else I wanted to do than music, art..then again I’m an artist as well.
What is on your bucket list?
Japan. I never visited and its definitely on the list.
Which historical figure would you choose to have dinner with?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
What can we look forward to from you next?
Performance/recording with Chineke!
You can see Andrew’s stunning performance in this year’s festival on Saturday, 12 June in a solo recital all of German sonatas (available to watch until 12 July).
