Director of Changed Voices Andrew McTaggart
Andrew McTaggart graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he gained his Bachelor of Music with honours and a master’s degree at the Alexander Gibson Opera School. He has gone on to develop a diverse career as a baritone, conductor, teacher, and leader in the field of education and outreach.
As a baritone, McTaggart’s Edinburgh International Festival debut was singing Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs in the Usher Hall. Other notable concert engagements include Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Festival Hall and Mozart’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall and the Bridgewater Hall. His operatic roles have included Falstaff and Gianni Schicchi (Opera Bohemia), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance (Scottish Opera), and Lakai in Ariadne auf Naxos (Opéra de Lorraine). McTaggart also sang the roles of Noye in Noye’s Fludde and created the role of the Fisherman in the premiere of An Cadal Trom with the Lammermuir Festival. As a keen recitalist, McTaggart has given recitals in the Musikfestspiele Saar, Blanc et Noir Festival, Westbourne Music and St Andrew’s Voices festivals. He released his first solo disc in 2020 called A Landscape of Song with Timothy Dean, featuring the music of Finzi, Gurney, Howells, and Ireland.
McTaggart is a Lecturer in Voice at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland within the Vocal Studies department and teaches at Aberdeen University. He is a Voice & Youth Arts Project Lead for CAMPS in Cumnock, creating and running their CAMPS Choral and CAMPS Choral Kids programme while developing opportunities for music-making in the community. Appearing regularly with Scottish Opera, he creates and delivers workshops for them. His opera, Sophie and Bear, toured Scotland last summer, performing to over 5,000 children.
He is currently the Musical Director of Ayr Choral Union, The Wordsworth Singers, Chorus Master of James MacMillan’s Cumnock Tryst Festival Chorus, and is regularly a conductor and animator with various choirs and programmes for the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.