Peter McCutcheon

McCutcheon, Peter

Peter McCutcheon. Guitarist, teacher, b Montreal 27 Jun 1951; B MUS (Montreal) 1972, premier prix guitar (Paris Cons) 1975. After taking lessons for six years with Florence Brown, he continued 1968-9 at the CMM with Marie Prével and 1969-72 at the University of Montreal with Marie and Martin Prével. He studied 1972-5 in Paris with Alexandre Lagoya after taking summer courses with him 1968-72 at the Orford Art Centre. McCutcheon performed in 1976 on CBC TV's 'Concert populaire' and 'Sons et Images' and on CBC radio's 'Jeunes Artistes' and (1977) 'Récital.' At the PDA 3 Oct 1976 he inaugurated a new season of the series 'Sons et brioches.' In February 1977 with the Orchestre de chambre Pierre-Morin at the Grand Théâtre in Quebec City he played a Vivaldi Concerto in C and the Giuliani Concerto in A. He gave a recital in April 1978 at the Théâtre Port-Royal (PDA). Following his 1979 New York debut, Peter G. Davis described him as a 'rare type of musician for whom the mechanics of playing the guitar seemed as natural and simple as breathing' (New York Times, 15 Apr 1979). He began teaching at the University of Montreal in 1975 and at McGill University in the early 1980s, and also has taught at the Orford Art Centre, the Académie internationale d'été in Nice, and at Domaine Forget in Ste-Irénée, Que. He has performed in Canada, the USA, and France. With the guitarist Tony Romandini and the harmonicist Claude Garden he recorded arrangements of works by Scheidt, Villa-Lobos, Ibert, and Chopin, and an original work by Garden (1976, RCI 443). He also recorded works by various composers on two LPs for Pro-Culture: Entr'acte with the flutist André-Gilles Duchemin, released in 1981 (PPC-7002), and Opus 1, released in 1984 (PPC-7006).