A Bit More Like Work, or Life After D'Oyly Carte

MacKie, David: - David Mackie was born in Greenock and educated at Greenock Academy, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow University and Birmingham University. He joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1975 and was chorus master and associate conductor from 1976-1982, conducting over 500 performances of the Gilbert and Sullivan operas. On the Company's closure he became a free-lance accompanist and conductor. With former members of D'Oyly Carte he undertook many tours of North America with The Best of Gilbert and Sullivan; in collaboration with Sir Charles Mackerras he reconstructed Arthur Sullivan's lost cello concerto. Further research into Sullivan's life and work resulted in his book Arthur Sullivan and The Royal Society of Musicians of Great Britain, and he has also researched the life and work of the Victorian composer Gerard Francis Cobb. He has been musical director for many operettas and musicals, pantomime, music hall and variety; he has also worked for the BBC, Grim's Dyke Opera Company, and Music in Hospitals and Care.