He is a violinist born in Mankato, Minnesota to a family where his brother, Colin, is also a violinist. He started studying the violin when he was four years old at the Mankato Music School. He took further studies at St. Olaf School and the Manhattan School of Music.
He has performed as a first violinist of the Des Moines Symphony as well as Associate Concertmaster of the Cedar Rapids Symphony.
In 2003 he became a member of the Minnesota Orchestra, moving to Acting Associate Concertmaster in 2011, and remained with them until 2012 when he joined the Tonhalle Orchester-Zurich as Second Concertmaster. He returned to the orchestra in 2016 where he holds the Sumner T.McKnight Chair as Principal Second Violin.
Other orchestras he has performed with include the All-Star Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the SWR Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart. He has been guest Concertmaster with the Gurzenich Orchester-Cologne, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suissee-Romande, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Zurich Opera.
As a soloist and chamber musician he has been First Violin with the Pioneer String Quartet, performed with Pro Musica Minnesota and performed nationally and internationally with various ensembles. He performed for First Lady Michelle Obama at the University of Northern Iowa in 2011 and has been a featured musician with the Minnesota Orchestra in a performance of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. He has also performed at the 2006 Sommerfest and on the Inside the Classics concerts.
Recordings he has performed on include Mozart’s Violin and Starry Night: Classical Music for Sleep by Rebecca Arons, The Best of World Flutes and Zen Relaxation by Timothy Frantzich, Solo Settings by Charles Lazarus, Summertime and Celebrate America by The O’Neill Brothers, Winter Morning Walks by Dawn Upshaw and Maria Schneider and Relaxing Classical and Arias for Trumpet and Voice: From the Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach by various artists.
In the field of musical education he has given masterclasses in Switzerland and at various venues in the United States as well as being a regular adjudicator. From 2013 to 2016 he was a violin coach for the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra.
He features here…
Sources:
- https://www.minnesotaorchestra.org/about/our-people/orchestra-musicians/peter-mcguire/
- https://gustavus.edu/music/strings/symphony-orchestra/documents/McGuire-Bio.pdf
- https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/11/08/orchestra-strife-leads-some-musicians-to-leave
- https://music.metason.net/artistinfo?name=Peter%20McGuire
- https://cla.umn.edu/music/story/school-music-welcomes-artist-faculty
- https://promusicamn.com/history
- http://alexfest.org/artists.html
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/peter-mcguire-mn0000549266
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/3003581-Peter-McGuire