Young Classical Music Artists Agency and Promoter

14th April 2008

The Trustees of YCAT (Young Concert Artists Trust) are pleased to announce the appointment of the Scottish cellist Alasdair Tait as Chief Executive from July 2008.

Commenting on his new role, Alasdair said, “I am honoured to take on the leadership of YCAT, an organisation that has meant so much to me as a musician and, more recently as a teacher.”

Alasdair's appointment will be part time and he will combine it with his current part-time position as Director of Chamber Music at the RNCM in Manchester and will be assisted at YCAT by a full-time administrator. He is also a regular professor on the Britten-Pears International Quartet Academy and until recently was Professor of Chamber Music at the International Chamber Music Institute of the Reina Sofia Conservatoire in Madrid

He has given masterclasses around the world, as far afield as Sydney and Tokyo.

He was the cellist with the Belcea Quartet from 1998 to 2006 touring the world, playing at all the major Festivals and recording for EMI.

Alasdair studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester under Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and at the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland, with Thomas Demenga and remains an active chamber musician.

Alasdair Tait succeeds Rosemary Pickering who will leave at the end of July 2008 to pursue a free-lance career after 16 years of extraordinary service.