Alasdair Tait is an internationally recognised cellist, performer, recording artist, educator, mentor and industry leader, dedicated to inspiring and encouraging the next generations of young classical musicians. 

On completing his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music with Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and in Basel with Thomas Demenga, he was cellist of the Belcea Quartet until 2006, performing internationally and was ‘Resident Quartet’ at London’s Wigmore Hall. Recordings for EMI of Schubert, Brahms, Britten, Mozart, Fauré and Barber (collaborating with Ian Bostridge, Thomas Ades and Thomas Kakushka) were awarded both Gramophone Awards and Diapason d’Or. The quartet were twice recipients of the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award and were the first BBC New Generation Artists.

Prior to his current role as Chief Executive of Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT), he was Head of Chamber Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the RNCM, professor at Reina Sofia School in Madrid and regularly teaches on the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA), Pro Quartet Foundation and at Britten Pears Programme at Snape Maltings. He has given masterclasses at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Glenn Gould School in Canada, New England Conservatory and  Stanford University in USA. He is frequently invited as jury member on international competitions such as Banff, Osaka, Melbourne, Wigmore and Vienna/Haydn Competitions, and Sydney International Piano Competition.  

Alasdair has also collaborated with artists including Piotr Andrezewski, Christian Zacharias, Kathryn Stott, Imogen Cooper, Aleksander Madzar, Robert Levin, Isabelle van Keulen, Valentin Erben, Borodin Quartet, Heinz Holliger, Michael Collins, Simon Keenlyside, Dame Anne Murray and Christine Schäfer.

He is currently a council member for Snape Maltings (Aldeburgh) and trustee of the Countess of Munster Trust and Ann Driver Trust, having previously served as a UK governor of Live Music Now. In 2016 Alasdair was made a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music and was awarded the ABO (Association of British Orchestras) 2016 Artist Manager of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Westminster Abbey Institute in London and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Alasdair also worked as a psychodynamic psychotherapist in private practice in London.

Contact 

E. [email protected]