John Mackenzie was born in York in 1950, and took up the guitar in 1959. He qualified as a Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama as a guitar performer, and as a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music as a guitar teacher. In 1971 he was appointed senior tutor of the guitar at York Music Centre, leaving in 1974 to teach at St. Peter’s School, and subsequently taking up concurrent guitar teaching posts at Bootham, Huntington and Pocklington Schools; combining teaching with performing and recording. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 1976, became a Fellow of London College of Music later the same year, and subsequently took a PhD at the University of Leeds. In 1984, having given many concerts and radio broadcasts, he moved to a single teaching post at Ampleforth College, and since 1999 has also taught the guitar part-time at Queen Margaret’s School, Escrick. He is the author of The Guitar Works of Stephen Dodgson (Cadenza, 2006).
The oldest amateur orchestra in York