Rob MacKillop
Rob MacKillop (born 1959 in Dundee) is a Scottish composer, lutenist, theorbist, vihuelist and guitarist. He is regarded as an important performer of Early Music in Scotland. His discography includes seven recordings for various early plucked instruments, three of which reached the Number One position in the Scottish Classical Music Chart.
In 2001 he received a Churchill Fellowship for his research on medieval Scottish music. He was Composer in Residence for Morgan Academy in Dundee in 2004 and served as Musician in Residence for Madras College in St Andrews in 2001. He also organized and directed the Dundee Summer Music Festival.
Early Music and the Guitar's Ancestors
Rob MacKillop stands at a rare intersection: he is equally at home on the classical guitar, the Renaissance lute, the theorbo, and the vihuela — the family of plucked string instruments from which the modern guitar descends. This breadth allows him to approach the guitar not only as a contemporary concert instrument but as the living endpoint of a tradition stretching back to medieval Europe. He has recorded extensively, with discography entries spanning lute music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Scottish historic guitar music, and contemporary compositions written for him. His work as a scholar-performer extends to editing historical tablatures and making early plucked-string music practically accessible to modern players.
