James McKay
Email: jrmckay@uwo.ca
James Mckay was appointed to the faculty in 1989 as the Chair of the Performance Department, and he retired in 2010. He taught bassoon and conducted the orchestra and opera. Before that, he taught at York University from 1972 to 1988. He maintains an active schedule as a bassoonist, conductor, composer, and adjudicator. He appears on over a dozen recordings with artist including James Campbell, James Sommerville, and Anton Kuerti, and with ensembles including the festival of sound, the Amadeus Ensemble, and the Contemporary Chamber Players of Chicago. He is frequently featured as a soloist or conductor in broadcast concerts CBC and NPR and in many North American music festivals. He is a founding member of the York Winds and Triptych, and has toured as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor in North America, Japan and Europe. His book The Bassoon Reed Manual, which details Lou Skinner’s theories and practice in bassoon reed making, as published by Indiana University Press in 2000. Professor McKay was the Music Director of Symphony on the Bay (formally Symphony Hamilton) from 1995 to 2015.
