A "fresh, inventive, urbane and keen-witted young composer"(Boston Globe) and "a splendid pianist" with "a born pianist's command of colors, texures, dynamics"(Boston Globe), John McDonald has earned international acclaim as a musician. His compositions have been performed on four continents, and his work is frequently featured in the U.S.A. by such ensembles as Alea III, Arden Quartet, Boston Composers String Quartet, Hartt Contemporary Players, Marimolin, Rivers Trio and Duo 101. Recently, McDonald served as Cultural Specialist in Mongolia, where he premiered his "Music for Piano and String Orchestra" and worked with students on his pedagogical works. In his performing capacity, recent honors include a Duo Recitalists' Grant from the NEA, and Artistic Ambassadorship to Asia, and an Artists' Residency at M.I.T. with soprano Karol Bennett(1995, 1993, 1990-91); the Bennett/McDonald performance of Hindemith's "Das Marienleben" at Boston's Goethe-Institut was hailed as Best Song Recital for 1995 by the Boston Globe, and their recording of John Harbison's "Simple Daylight" appears on Archetype Records. McDonald's solo piano recital of "Common Injustices" by twenty-five living composers given in September of 2001 prompted Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe to write, "one can hardly imagine anyone else undertaking such a program, or playing it with such modest and unobtrusive but total musical and pianistic mastery."
A "fresh, inventive, urbane and keen-witted young composer"(Boston Globe) and "a splendid pianist" with "a born pianist's command of colors, texures, dynamics"(Boston Globe), John McDonald has earned international acclaim as a musician. His compositions have been performed on four continents, and his work is frequently featured in the U.S.A. by such ensembles as Alea III, Arden Quartet, Boston Composers String Quartet, Hartt Contemporary Players, Marimolin, Rivers Trio and Duo 101. Recently, McDonald served as Cultural Specialist in Mongolia, where he premiered his "Music for Piano and String Orchestra" and worked with students on his pedagogical works. In his performing capacity, recent honors include a Duo Recitalists' Grant from the NEA, and Artistic Ambassadorship to Asia, and an Artists' Residency at M.I.T. with soprano Karol Bennett(1995, 1993, 1990-91); the Bennett/McDonald performance of Hindemith's "Das Marienleben" at Boston's Goethe-Institut was hailed as Best Song Recital for 1995 by the Boston Globe, and their recording of John Harbison's "Simple Daylight" appears on Archetype Records. McDonald's solo piano recital of "Common Injustices" by twenty-five living composers given in September of 2001 prompted Richard Dyer of The Boston Globe to write, "one can hardly imagine anyone else undertaking such a program, or playing it with such modest and unobtrusive but total musical and pianistic mastery."