Scottish cellist Alasdair Tait studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Emma Ferrand and Ralph Kirshbaum and in Basel with Thomas Demenga. As cellist of the Belcea Quartet until 2006 he performed internationally and was in the ‘Resident Quartet’ at London’s Wigmore Hall. His recordings for EMI of Schubert, Brahms, Britten, Mozart, Fauré and Barber were awarded both Gramophone Awards and the Diapason d’Or.
Prior to his current role as Chief Executive of Young Classical Artists Trust, Alasdair was Head of Chamber Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the RNCM, and professor at Reina Sofía School of Music in Madrid. He regularly teaches at the European Chamber Music Academy, Pro Quartet Foundation and at Britten Pears Programme at Snape Maltings. He has given masterclasses at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Glenn Gould School in Canada, New England Conservatory and Stanford University. He is frequently invited as a jury member of international competitions such as Banff, Osaka, Melbourne, Wigmore and Haydn Competition in Vienna.
Alasdair has participated in many of the world’s important festivals including Edinburgh, Salzburg and Schubertiade, collaborating with artists including Christian Zacharias, Kathryn Stott, Imogen Cooper, Robert Levin, Valentin Erben, Heinz Holliger, Michael Collins, Dame Anne Murray and Christine Schäfer.
He is currently a council member of Aldeburgh Music, a trustee for the Countess of Munster Trust, and previously was a UK Governor for Live Music Now UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music, of the Westminster Abbey Institute and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Alasdair is also a psychodynamic psychotherapist in private practice in London.