Dr Gemma McGregor

Biography

Dr Gemma McGregor was appointed Teaching Fellow in Music at University of Aberdeen in 2016, having been employed as an Ensemble Coach and Visiting Tutor since 2013. She has served as Course Coordinator of eight BMus and BMus (Ed) courses, taught an additional nine undergraduate courses, and supervised fourth year composition portfolios. A recipient of the Ogston Postgraduate Scholarship, she graduated with a doctorate from University of Aberdeen in 2017. Gemma is a freelance composer, flautist, and academic, recognised for her multidisciplinary and genre-blurring works. 

Gemma has received commissions and funding from Creative Scotland, Performing Rights Society, Heritage Scotland, Hinrichsen Foundation, Britten Pears Arts, Dartington Festival, St Magnus International Festival, Sound Festival, Illuminate, Culture Collective, Turning the Elements, North Wales International Festival, CoMA, Modern Chants and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust.

Gemma studied flute with Kate Lucas (Guildhall School of Music & Drama) and Richard Stagg (BBC Symphony Orchestra). She has performed with professional chamber orchestras and ensembles, toured the UK with new music group, Illuminate, and performs regularly with chamber ensemble, Nordic Viola. Gemma directs and performs with The Experimental Music Project, who stage multidisciplinary works at the Pier Arts Centre, Orkney. She has collaborated with visual artists including Anne Bevan, Alan Watson and Craig Ellis; writers Pam Beasant, Christine De Luca and Duncan Maclean; scientist Michael Bell; and film-maker Mark Jenkins.

Gemma's music has been broadcast on BBC1 Television, STV, BBC Radio 3, ALL FM and Classic FM. Compositions are featured on seven commercial albums including Music from the Islands, Vol. 3. (Tutl Records, 2021). Her composition, Love Was His Meaning, for choir, soprano, and harp was recorded by Corvus Consort for their album, Welcome Joy, in 2024. It was selected as BBC Radio 3 Essential Classics Album of the Week.

External Memberships

Incorporated Society of Musicians

University & College Union

Higher Education Academy

Performing Rights Society

British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors

Art Music Scotland

Scottish Music Centre                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Prizes and Awards

Ogston Postgraduate Scholarship

W.R. Aim Memorial Prize

Current Research

Currently composing a piece based on the discovery of endorphins by University of Aberdeen Professor Hans Kosterlitz in 1973 for performance at the Orkney Science Festival in September, 2026.

Past Research

Academic Papers

Synthesis or Fusion? – The Music of Linda Buckley (2023)

Contemporary Music in Alternative Venues (2020)

Music With a Sense of Place: A Study of the Music of Orkney with Reference to Environmental and Cultural Influences (2017)

Evidence for the Influence of the Saint Magnus Legend on Orkney Music (2016)

Collaborations

Sea Glimmer by composer Gemma McGregor, filmmaker Ken Gray and painter, Victoria Crowe OBE (ongoing)

Oceans Shifting Tides, by composer Gemma McGregor and poet, Christine De Luca (WayWORD Festival, 2023)

Drift, by composer Gemma McGregor and poet, Haworth Hodgkinson (Turning the Elements, 2022)

Stenness at Solstice by composer Gemma McGregor and visual artist, Samantha Gray (Pier Arts Centre, 2020)

Found, by composer Gemma McGregor and and visual artist, Craig Ellis (Gray’s School of Art, 2013)

The Fabian Strategy, by composer Gemma McGregor and visual artist, Craig Ellis (Sound Festival, 2016)

Triptych, by composer Gemma McGregor and painter, Alan Watson (Pier Arts Centre, 2016)

Funding and Grants

Ogston Postgraduate Scholarship

Creative Scotland

Performing Rights Society

Heritage Scotland

Hinrichsen Foundation

St Magnus International Festival

Aberdeen Sound Festival

WayWord Festival

Illuminate

Culture Collective

Turning the Elements

North Wales International Festival

Modern Chants

Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust

Teaching Responsibilities

2016 - 2026 Teaching Fellow in Music at the School of Language, Music & Visual Culture

Dr Gemma McGregor is employed as a Teaching Fellow in Music. Her work involves writing courses, lecturing, assessment, tutoring composition and teaching music theory. She supervised fourth year composition students who were collating portfolios in 2016-2018. Gemma also works as a Visiting Tutor – teaching the flute and directing the Renaissance Recorder Consort. She led the university’s new music ensemble, Spectrum, from 2019-2020, and directed them for a performance at Aberdeen Sound Festival. Gemma created two new courses for the BMus course in 2022 and 2023:

Addressing the Balance: A Study of Women Composers, Past and Present (MU3082/MU3084)

Ten Living UK Women Composers (MU3082/MU3084)

Key responsibilities

Course Creator for MU309a, MU3015, MU3539, two MU3082/MU3084 courses

Course Content Creator for MU2028, MU2525, MU1537, MU1535

Course Coordinator for MU1025, MU1557, MU1051, MU1535, MU3082/4082, MU2525, MU309a, MU4080

Course Tutor for MU4021, MU2529, MU3015, MU4015, MU3539

Composition Portfolio Supervisor for MU4009, MU4010, MU4080

Performance Assessor for MU1051, MU2526

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Music Director of Renaissance Recorder Consort (2023-present)

Music Director of Spectrum Contemporary Music Group (2019-2020)