Classical

Joanna MacGregor is the sort of musician who evades easy categorisation

Joanna MacGregor is the sort of musician who evades easy categorisation. You're as likely to find her playing jazz with Django Bates as a concerto with a symphony orchestra. And her concert programmes mix new and old as freely as her CDs. When she recorded Bach's Art of Fugue, she coupled it with recordings of some of the player piano music of Conlon Nancarrow. Her forthcoming Music Network tour brings together Bach and Gerald Barry, Chopin and Thelonius Monk, Beethoven and Bartok. Not content with a performing career, MacGregor runs her own concert series, SoundCircus, at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall, a series which has recently spawned its own CD label. If you've ever felt that what concerts need is an injection of the inspirationally unpredictable, MacGregor may be the answer to your dreams.

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan

Michael Dervan is a music critic and Irish Times contributor