Biography

Scottish cellist, John McCrae (b.1961) has worked, as an extra player, with the London Symphony Orchestra. His freelance work, after graduating with honours from the Royal College of Music, London, involved concerts with LSO, English Chamber Orchestra, WREN Orchestra, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra, Henry Wood Chamber Orchestra, Guildford Philharmonic, London Concert Orchestra and the  National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Alongside his classical orchestral work, he played the cello solo in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Song & Dance’ musical at The Palace Theatre in 1984, which featured the ‘Variations,’ for cello and rock group with a modern dance troupe led by Wayne Sleep.

With the National Philharmonic Orchestra, at Abbey Road Studios, in 1986, he recorded the film score for ‘Highlander’ written by Michael Kamen, Brian May and Queen. The video ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ followed the release of the film featuring Queen playing with the National Philharmonic Orchestra.

Having won a cello audition at Teatro Massimo, Palermo, he emigrated to Italy in the summer of 1987. After two years immersed in opera, he transferred to Rome in 1989 to be with his companion, Anna Maria Manicone, an accomplished Italian harpist. They had met whilst working together at Teatro Massimo and formed a harp and cello duo, ‘Duo G.Selmi' named after Giuseppe Selmi, the famous Italian cellist, who was married to Anna Maria’s teacher, the harpist Maria Dongellini; both principal players with the RAI orchestra, often conducted by Arturo Toscanini.

John was accepted at L’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ‘ to attend a three year Chamber Music diploma course tutored by Felix Ayo, the renowned Spanish violinist and member of ‘I’Musici’, well known for their interpretations of Baroque music. Whilst attending L’Accademia, he passed a cello audition to become an extra player for the  RAI di Roma orchestra and had other freelance work with L’Orchestra da Camera di Caserta. Numerous Duo. G Selmi recitals were performed and a new, original repertoire was researched. In 1991, he won the post of Co-Principal cello with the Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari and Anna Maria Manicone won the post of Principal Harp. Anna Maria’s hometown Matera is 63km from Bari so they decided to live in Matera.

In 1993 , The Duo G. Selmi performed 8 recorded concerts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The original repertoire,  presenting  many new works as ‘ First Performance in the UK,’ included Ennio Morricone’s ‘Frammenti di Giochi’ and Raffaele Gervasio’s ‘Un Tempo per Due.’  In The Scotsman newspaper, Susan Nickals wrote, ’The duo performed with great skill and one hopes that more works will emerge to match their talent.’

To celebrate the year 2000 and the millennium, new works were written for the duo and recorded on their cd ‘Crystal’, featuring works by Tazul Tajuddin, Luigi Morleo, Mark Horton, Philistin D’Aroso, Michael Kennedy, Massimo Gianfreda, Giacomo Belluci and Lou Harrison.

Anna Maria was a dedicated tutor at Lecce Conservatorio and then at the Matera Conservatorio della Musica. She performed with various combinations of chamber groups and played with orchestras in Rome, Palermo, Bari and Matera. An accomplished soloist, as Principal harp, in 1992, she performed Mozart’s Double Concerto with  Principal flute Alessandro Muolo and the Orchestra Sinfonica della Provincia di Bari conducted by Claudio Vandelli.

Sadly, she died on 30 December 2016 after a brave battle with pancreatic cancer. Her last concert, on 10 December 2016, was as Principal Harp with the Fondazione Orchestra Lucana conducted by Vincenzo Perrone with the first performance of the Oratorio  ‘Nigra sum sed formosa’ composed by Damiano D’Ambrosio. The concert which was held in Matera’s newly restored cathedral, received a standing ovation, with 12 minutes of applause!'

John returned to the UK in 2018. He continues to write progressive music for his electric cello and gives private cello lessons.