Alistair MacDonald
RCS / Staff (Music Composition / Electronic Music / Performance / Sound Art)
I am a composer, performer and sound artist. Most of my work uses technology in some way: I design my own computer-based sound processing environments and my work (often collaborative) encompasses composing, field recording, live electronics, interactivity and improvisation. I am particularly interested in the transformation of recorded sound. I make standalone electroacoustic works, music for instruments and voices, music and sound design for dance, film and installation.
Projects include music and sound design for the film The moss and the cosmos, commissioned by The Cumnock Tryst; two collaborations with Belgian dance company Reckless Sleepers; and The Last Post with trumpet player Tom Poulson for the St Magnus Festival. Recordings include two albums of music for clarsach and live electronics with Catriona McKay, a solo CD of electroacoustic works, Canadian label for empreintes DIGITALes, and Untold Story with Anne-Liis Poll for Leo Records.
30 October 2024: performance with Catriona McKay, Chris Stout, Tina Raevaara and Mario Hautala at Nordic Music Days, CCA, Glasgow (Tiina and Maarko are Finnish horror story writers)
June 2025: The Power of Place performance resulting from a collaboration with Cheryl Wilson Smith (sculpture artist working with glass ), Timothy Laurin (multi-disciplined craftsperson who works in clay, glass and enamel) and Tara Butler (dance artist) at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo ON. The project will launch a collaboration between the Gallery and Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh.