Dutch lutenist David Mackor (Amsterdam, 1989) is making a name for himself in the Netherlands as a diverse and passionate soloist and continuo player. He obtained his Master in Early Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he studied lute and other historical plucked instruments in the studio of Fred Jacobs and René Genis, and basso continuo with Thérèse de Goede.
Before David started playing the lute, he had obtained a bachelor degree in electric guitar as well as beginning his studies in classical music and composition. It was at this time that he was led to the classical guitar and ultimately, the lute. Throughout his studies as a lutenist he has maintained a diverse range of interests, studying baroque guitar with Lex Eisenhardt, declamation with Jed Wentz and Gregorian chant with Dr. Richard Bot.
In February 2016 he formed Duo Serenissima together with award winning Canadian soprano Elisabeth Hetherington. Since then they have performed in esteemed concert venues around Europe, performed several times on the Dutch classical radio station Radio 4, and were featured in the main programme of the 2017, 2020 and 2021 Utrecht Early Music Festival. In the summer of 2018, they had the honour of performing in the Ravenna Festival at UNESCO World Heritage site of the Basilica San Vitale, and went on a North American tour where they performed in Pennsylvania, New York and Toronto. In 2019 they were chosen by the Dutch broadcasting agency AvroTros as one of their artists in residence and through their label they recorded their debut album with songs by John Dowland. Duo Serenissima is a frequent guest on the TV programme “Podium Witteman”.
David is a frequent guest of the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, with whom he has gone on tour as a soloist in the Bach & Sufi programme. In addition he was asked to be part of the 2019 New Year’s concert in the Concertgebouw and then again for the 2021 New Year’s concert as a soloist. In 2022 he toured with them as a soloist in their programme “Troubadours”. In 2019, David collaborated with dance company LeineRoebana to create the show “SOLAS”, which received five stars in the Volkskrant and in 2022 he collaborated with them again on their new show “STORM” for which Calliope Tsoupaki composed the music. Furthermore, he played with other renowned performers and ensembles such as Amsterdam Sinfonietta, LUDWIG, The Parley of Instruments with Peter Holman, recorder player Lucie Horsch, soprano Raquel Andueza and on the Dutch television programme “De Tiende van Tijl”, where he performed with distinguished baritone Maarten Koningsberger.
In addition to early music David is also passionate about contemporary music and he has played in several premiers of new works including the premiere of the opera “<3” in the 2016 Opera Forward Festival in the Dutch National Opera (Amsterdam), the Dutch premiere of “Sky” by Sebastian Fagerlund in the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and a premiere of the opera “Four Hills” with the baroque ensemble Il Fondamento under the baton of Paul Dombrecht. In autumn of 2017, David premiered a concert of all new chamber works with the Ny Musikks Komponistgruppe in Bergen, Norway, as well as premiere in the Concertegebouw’s Turning East festival with concert of Bach & Sufi music with the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble.
