Biography
Fifteen years of experience as a duo, with performances in theaters across several countries and an academic repertoire spanning Beethoven and Mozart to living composers such as Gabriela Ortiz.
Mac McClure
Piano
Mac McClure is internationally recognized for his passionate interpretations of the Spanish and Latin American repertoire.
Composer Xavier Montsalvatge said, “Mac knows my music better than I do, and his interpretations of Albéniz, Granados, and Mompou have a genuine sense of authenticity.”
Critic Dan Stevens of the British magazine International Record Review said, “McClure is a powerful communicator who envelops listeners in the magical world he creates.”
Born in Florida, USA, he holds a degree in Philology from the University of North Carolina, USA.
He began his musical studies with Consuelo Colomer, and continued with Michael Zenge and Phyllis Rappeport.
In 1984 he moved to Barcelona to study with Carlota Garriga at the prestigious Academia Marshall, an institution founded in 1901 by Enrique Granados.
From 1991 he worked with Alicia de Larrocha on the Spanish and classical repertoire.
His extensive discography (more than 40 titles) is available on digital platforms such as iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.
As an editor, he has published work on performance practice and critical editions for the Boileau publishing house in Barcelona.
Since 2010 he has been an associate professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
In 2011 he was appointed director of the Conservatorio Nacional de Colombia, a position he held until July 2015.
Juan Carlos Higuita
Violin
In addition to being a Colombian violinist of great standing and a Latin Grammy nominee, Juan Carlos Higuita occupies a unique place in the musical world.
He is a very particular kind of specialist: a performer who has staked everything on contemporary Latin American music.
Throughout his exceptional career he has performed as a soloist with Colombia's most important orchestras, and as concertmaster or guest musician with the Florilegium Musicum Wien, Orpheus Ensemble München, City of London Sinfonia, and others.
With outstanding academic credentials, he completed undergraduate studies in instrumental pedagogy at the University of Music in Vienna, along with a bachelor's and master's degree in solo violin performance at the same city's conservatory.
His interest in chamber music has led him to take part in festivals such as the Donaueschinger Musiktage in Germany, the International Guitar Festival in Nuremberg, the Cartagena International Music Festival, and others.
He currently teaches violin and chamber music at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and the Universidad de los Andes, and is a member of the Bogotá Chamber Music Society, the Bogotá Piano Trio, and the CG ensemble.
As a duo
Once they realized their taste in ice cream, wine, and donuts was identical, it was obvious they had to play together.
Juan Carlos Higuita and Mac McClure performed together for the first time in 2011,
during the ceremony in which the Music Conservatory of the Universidad Nacional received a commendation at Colombia's Congress (as good an excuse as any to start a fifteen-year musical friendship).
After that first concert, Juan Carlos decided to abandon his research on altered sixth chords over a dominant pedal in the work of Austro-Ugandan composer Walter Bidet Streicholz. He never regretted it.
Since then they haven't stopped collaborating on projects, recordings, and recitals, always enjoying themselves and delighting the audiences who join them.
Today they're recognized as the longest-running professional chamber duo in Colombia, with an ever-rising international career: the United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Spain, France, and Serbia.
They play music by strange, avant-garde people with the same enthusiasm as music by strange people who've been buried for centuries.
And across four continents, they've verified with near-scientific rigor the quality and variety of the wine, ice cream, and donuts.
Their individual interests don't always align (McClure is passionate about the migratory routes of fairy penguins, something that has never interfered with his and Higuita's shared interest in music for piano and violin),
but they help each other exactly where it's needed most: Higuita makes a great effort to help McClure get over his allergy to Beethoven, and in exchange, McClure plays altered sixth chords over a dominant pedal in various keys.
They keep on studying because rehearsal is the perfect moment for a donut, recording always ends in ice cream, and a concert isn't complete without their wine.