George Smith & Duncan Strachan

Tell us about your background:

George: I grew up in Angus in a household full of music and started learning the fiddle at age eight. There was a brilliant local violin teacher who along with my parents encouraged me to play and listen to lots of different styles of music. This kindled my interest in folk music, which I focused on for a while.

After competing in many of the Scottish Fiddle Championships, I accepted a place in Plockton at The National Centre for Excellence in Traditional Music. Although I loved the place and the people, I missed home and wanted to learn a bit more about violin technique and keep exploring different styles. After returning home, I kept up my traditional playing but focused on classical repertoire and playing in orchestra/chamber groups. A good few years later, my teacher encouraged me to apply to various music colleges. After much decision-making, I accepted a place to study on the BMus course at RCS and moved to Glasgow!

Duncan: I spent my childhood in the West Highlands and started learning cello and piano at age four. When I was 12, I went to Edinburgh to study at St Mary’s Music School and developed an interest in composition and songwriting. I went to Oxford to study music, thinking that was the path I would take, but eventually came back to cello playing, and moved to Glasgow to study at RCS as a postgraduate in 2009. It was there I met George and we realised we had a lot in common, so we started playing music together.

What have you been involved in since graduating?

George: My main focus has primarily been my string quartet. Myself and cellist Duncan Strachan founded the Maxwell Quartet during our postgraduate studies at RCS and have played together since. We’ve been in the current lineup for the past ten years, which has been a wonderful adventure. We tour around the world and have visited some very beautiful and interesting places along the way. My interest in folk music has always been present, but it has recently come to the forefront of my playing again, whether it’s with the quartet, or in my own individual projects. I also play with various chamber groups from time to time, particularly the Scottish Ensemble. Apart from playing the violin, I’m a dad to two boys which keeps me very busy!

Duncan: I’ve enjoyed playing in lots of different chamber groups, but particularly with the Maxwell Quartet. We were selected as Chamber Music Scotland’s ‘Residency Ensemble’ in 2011, and that gave us the opportunity to do lots of concerts across Scotland, as well as time and space to develop, through coaching and rehearsing. A few years later we entered several string quartet competitions around the world, and (after a few unsuccessful ones!) we eventually managed to win one, which led us to secure representation in different countries.

Playing with the quartet has allowed both of us to develop some of our older interests like composing and traditional music – it’s great to have the freedom to pursue the things that really make you tick as a musician. I also really enjoy teaching, and as well as coaching chamber music with the quartet at institutions across the world, I have been a cello teacher at Douglas Academy in Milngavie and St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh. I also run a chamber music festival in the Highlands called the Loch Shiel Festival, which has allowed me to curate concert programmes in new and different ways.

What have been your most memorable moments from your career so far?

George: I feel very fortunate as the quartet has enabled us to visit many amazing places around the world. Travelling and touring the West Coast of America was pretty memorable. Taking a high-speed boat trip to a remote Norwegian Island, to give a concert in a whisky distillery was also up there. Over the years we have also collaborated and studied with some of my favourite musicians in the world. Learning from the people/groups I have followed throughout my musical career has been a hugely inspiring and uplifting experience.

Duncan: I get a lot out of seeing the effect our music can have on people from all different backgrounds and places – my most memorable moments are when people have come together to do something shared – we’ve done a few community projects at Loch Shiel Festival which have been very moving to be a part of. I also love performing in unusual locations, taking inspiration musically from those places – perhaps the most memorable of these was performing alongside George (and electronica artist Sam Annand) on the Cuillin mountains of Skye, for Concert in a Coire in 2017. It was organised by Skye Adventure, and the audience hiked up the mountain to a lochan, where we performed outdoors with speakers placed all around the loch. It was an extreme but beautiful experience!

How did your time at RCS prepare you for the world of work?

George: Whilst I was a student at RCS there were lots of performance opportunities which I think helped me gain experience and feel comfortable being in front of an audience. Having a weekly lesson from both of my wonderful teachers was also hugely helpful and inspiring. I was given the chance to perform in several masterclasses with world-class musicians. These classes and lessons not only helped my playing at the time but have since fed into my teaching methods. The orchestral projects were a good chance to explore some of the major repertoire performed by professional orchestras. The academic lectures and classes have also proved very helpful in my approach to thinking about performance practice. Most of all, the chamber music groups I formed and the coaching sessions we received have proved to be hugely beneficial in moulding me into the musician I am and the career path I have chosen.

Duncan: It gave me a sense of place. Initially, I’d felt a bit lost when I first moved to RCS, but the close-knit nature of the student community, as well as the breadth of courses and teaching, offered me a space that felt at once like ‘home’, but also allowed me the chance to realise that there were more options open to me as a cellist than I had previously considered. I think the environment of an educational institution is something that can’t be underestimated. If the resources are there, and the prevailing attitude is one of inclusivity, I think those are the perfect conditions to grow as an artist.

Any words of wisdom for those looking to pursue a music career?

George: Aim to be a good musician, along with being a technically accomplished instrumentalist. Be open to collaboration and be willing to adapt. Listen and learn from others and remember to treat everyone’s ideas with the same respect as you treat your own. Immerse yourself in many different styles of music and most of all, remember to enjoy it!

Duncan: I absolutely think that having an openness to learning, not just from your teachers but your colleagues and fellow students is the key. There will always be multiple ways to do any one thing in the arts, which is its intrinsic value. If you are able to gather a whole repertoire of ideas, and take them with you, then you gain depth as an artist, and you have more to draw on in your work!