Alasdair MacLean

Alasdair MacLean grew up in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada, where he spent his teenage years playing in rock and prog-rock bands. After initial composition studies at Mount Allison University, he continued with studies at the Juilliard School, McGill University, the University of Toronto and L’École des Arts Américaines in Fontainebleau, France, where he received the Diplome d’Honneur in Composition.

Alasdair has completed more than 40 professional commissions, for a wide variety of musical ensembles and soloists including Suzie LeBlanc, Symphony Nova Scotia, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, Wendy Nielsen, Measha Brueggergosman, Robert Pomakov, the Saint John String Quartet, the Borealis String Quartet, the Atlantic Arts Trio, Denise Djokic, Susan Platts, Lucille Chung, Kaori Yamagami, Motion Ensemble, the Nova Voce Men’s Choir, the Aeolian Singers, the Elliott Chorale and Northumberland Brass.

Highlights of MacLean’s career include a successful four-year stint as composer-in-residence with Symphony Nova Scotia and a three-year composer-in-residence position with Debut Atlantic, the classical chamber music touring organization based in Halifax, both involving educational outreach in public schools and universities throughout Atlantic Canada.  In 2014, MacLean’s Elizabeth Bishop Suite was a featured work on soprano Suzie Leblanc’s CD ‘I am in need of music’ which won the East Coast Music Award for Best Classical Recording.