John Doig Violinist

John Doig (born 2nd August 1958, Helensburgh, Scotland) is an eminent violinist.

Early Years

Raised in Glasgow, John Doig began violin lessons at the age of five with distinguished Glasgow violin teacher Elsa Ommer. Doig won scholarships to attend the Junior Department of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (renamed The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

St. Mary’s Music School

Aged thirteen, Doig auditioned successfully for a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. However, at the same time in Edinburgh, final preparations were being made to establish Scotland’s first specialist music school. Menuhin, having agreed to be Patron of the new school, suggested that Doig – ‘his Scots prodigy’ – was exactly the type of gifted young student that the school was hoping to attract.

Consequently, in 1972, Doig was enrolled as the first pupil at the newly founded St. Mary’s Music School. (Menuhin would thereafter refer to it as ‘my sister school in Scotland’). Expanded from the choir school (established in 1880) of St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, St. Mary’s Music School is now internationally acclaimed as a premier institution for children with exceptional musical talent. At this time Doig was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, being appointed Leader at the age of 16.

In June 2022 (the 50th anniversary of the founding of St. Mary’s Music School), after accepting an invitation to return to the school, Doig addressed the pupils and staff. He recalled the day, exactly fifty years before as a tentative thirteen year old, he arrived at the school as the first (and briefly the only) instrumental pupil.

Further studies

Doig continued his violin studies privately in London with Trevor Williams and at the age of 17, was offered scholarships from both the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music in London, but he declined, opting instead to begin his orchestral career immediately as a freelance member of the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London.

CAREER

Aged 21 Doig was appointed Principal First Violin of the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic).

In 1986 he was invited by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra to take the post of Co-Leader with founder Leader John Tunnell. A distinguished career then followed, leading and directing the SCO at home and abroad and at festivals including Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh, Bath and Flanders. Doig had a long association with the composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies after leading the SCO for his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in 1988. Over the next five years he led numerous concerts, recordings and world tours with Maxwell Davies as conductor.

In 1991 he was also appointed Leader of the Orchestra at Scottish Opera.
Being a tireless champion of young musicians, Doig founded the Scottish Bach Consort in 1994 – a touring ensemble of professional players who promote talented young musicians as soloists. (Conductor Sir Alexander Gibson agreed to be the SBC’s first President).

Doig’s career has been compared to that of the legendary violinist David McCallum – the following extract is reproduced by courtesy of The International Biographical Centre.

Scottish violinist John Doig is a renowned orchestra leader…….Doig’s career was strikingly similar to that of a previous doyen of UK orchestra leaders – the late Scottish violinist David McCallum (father of the actor David McCallum). In 1932 McCallum led the Scottish Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli and was asked by Sir Thomas Beecham to lead the London Philharmonic Orchestra. McCallum was Sir Thomas’s preferred leader (as Doig was for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies). Both violinists released recordings of Kreisler showpieces and traditional Scottish airs, and both occasionally crossed over into the world of light entertainment – McCallum led the Mantovani Orchestra and Doig led the Scottish Television Orchestra.

Recordings

Commercial recordings as violin soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra include Stravinsky’s ‘Appolon Musagete’ (CD VC791115-2 Virgin Classics), Tchaikovsky’s ‘Mozartiana’, doubled with the world premiere recording of the discovered Stravinsky arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s Entr’acte from The Sleeping Beauty (CD DCA719 ASV). (Doig was asked by the Uruguayan conductor Jose Serebrier to make the first commercial recording of this unpublished score in 1989 – since then numerous recordings have been released by various artists and record labels throughout the world).

In popular culture

1984

Doig stepped in for an indisposed music director and conducted the orchestral accompaniments to Scots songs performed by Linda Esther Gray and Kenneth McKellar, for a live hogmanay show on ITV.

Health

In his early forties, Doig began to show symptoms of Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. (1 in 20 people in the UK develop symptoms of YOPD before the age of 50. Typical indications include occasional tremors, balance instability and lack of coordination). As his condition deteriorated, Doig took the decision to retire from the music profession at the age of 43. Since the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, he participates regularly in clinical studies and surveys in order to further scientific research into the causes and treatments of the debilitating disease. Doig has been instrumental in helping to raise awareness and funds for both Parkinson’s Scotland and Help Musicians (formerly The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund).

Awards

And

Honours

The John Doig Award – a bronze sculpture created by the celebrated artist Alan Ross – is awarded annually to a pupil of distinction at St. Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh.

In 2007, following his decision to retire from the music profession, he was presented to The Queen at The Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh and commended ‘for his outstanding contribution to classical music in Scotland’.