Neil Mackie

After studies with Ernst Haefliger and Peter Pears, Mackie pursued an international career almost exclusively in concert and oratorio. He sang, among many others, at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Ojai, Savonlinna, Colmar and Flanders Festivals, in New York City, Moscow, Vienna, Madrid, he toured Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Ukraine, Mexico, Macao, Hong Kong.

He focused on baroque music (Bach and Händel), and on contemporary music: Britten, Henze, and above all Peter Maxwell Davies, for whom he also appeared on stage – he premiered his operas The martyrdom of St. Magnus (18 June 1977, Kirkwall/Orkney Islands) and The lighthouse (3 September 1980, Aldeburgh Festival). Davies also wrote his cantata Into the labyrinth for Mackie, who premiered both this and another Davies cantata (The Jacobite rising).

Already from 1983, Mackie was also a voice professor: until 2008 at the Royal College of Music, then at the Royal Academy of Music (both in London).

Reference and picture source: Bach Cantatas