Aaron McGregor is a violinist and music historian. As a performer, he is a leading exponent of early Scottish music, while his research has uncovered a lost history of Scottish violin culture dating back to the 1550s.
Performing on both modern and baroque violins, he has appeared with ensembles including Scots Baroque, Dunedin Consort, Laudonia, Spinacino Consort, Ex Cathedra, the RSNO, BBC SSO, Scottish Ensemble, Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, the GRIT Orchestra, the Evergreen Ensemble (Australia), and Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (France). A specialist in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Scottish repertoire, he performs regularly with Concerto Caledonia, with whom he has recorded five albums and toured internationally. Aaron’s forthcoming recordings include Hey to Christmas with Siglo de Oro and Spinacino Consort, a celebration of the traditional Twelve Days of Christmas to be released by Delphian in December 2026.
Alongside his work as a performer, Aaron is committed to bringing newly discovered repertoire to modern audiences. His research explores the social, cultural, and musical history of Scotland between 1500 and 1800, revealing a rich and previously overlooked tradition of professional musicians, composers, and performers. Through concerts, recordings, editions, and publications, he seeks to reconnect audiences with Scotland’s early musical heritage. His first book, Fillocks, Fiddlers, and Others of that Band: The Violin in Scotland, 1550–1750, will be published later this year. A regular guest on BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 3, he most recently appeared on The Early Music Show to discuss his research on Charles Macklean, the Scottish fiddler who became Handel’s organist.
Aaron regularly leads the Glasgow Barons Orchestra and is the founder and artistic director of The Curious Collection, an ensemble dedicated to rediscovering rare and neglected repertoire. From 2022 to 2026, he was Lecturer in Music at the University of Aberdeen and he is now an Honorary Lecturer at the Elphinstone Institute, where he supervises postgraduate research in Scottish music and culture, past and present.
A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and the University of Glasgow, Aaron completed his PhD in 2020 under the supervision of Professors David McGuinness and John Butt. He is a two-time recipient of the Donald Dewar Award and has received numerous prizes for his academic and performance work.
One thought on “About”