Eugene Patrick John McCarthy OBE (20 November 1916 - 8 April 2009), also known professionally for most of his career as John Mac or simply Mac, was a three-times
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
-nominated
director and conductor of
choral music
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...
.
Early life
Born in London to Irish parents, McCarthy was education at the Oratory school in
Kensington and then on a scholarship at St. Edmund's school in
Ware, Hertfordshire
Ware is a town in Hertfordshire, England close to the county town of Hertford. It is also a civil parish in East Hertfordshire district.
Location
The town lies on the north–south A10 road which is partly shared with the east–west A414 (fo ...
, after which he attended the
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including performanc ...
. His first recording was in 1927 whilst still a boy, where he performed as a soprano. He later worked at a bank, and in 1940 was married to Margaret Quigley with whom he had twin girls and a son.
After serving during the Second World War, he studied privately under
Mátyás Seiber
Mátyás György Seiber (; 4 May 190524 September 1960) was a Hungarian-born British composer who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1935 onwards. His work linked many diverse musical influences, from the Hungarian tradition of Bartó ...
, a prominent composer and conductor, and also sang professionally as a tenor around the same time.
McCarthy was involved in sports in his youth, particularly in water polo. He was a reserve member of the
British water polo team for the
1948 Olympic games.
Musical career
In 1951 McCarthy together with
Denis Stevens
Denis William Stevens CBE (2 March 1922 – 1 April 2004) was a British musicologist specialising in early music, conductor, professor of music and radio producer.
Early years
He was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and attended the Royal ...
founded a choral group known as the
Ambrosian Singers to provide choral polyphony for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
series, ''The History of Music'', which Stevens produced. By the 1960s the group had grown to include 700 singers from which smaller groups could be selected. He also went on to found The John McCarthy Singers.
From 1961-66 McCarthy was the chorus master of the
. The LSO's chorus of this era has been described as "simply the Ambrosian Singers under another name".
In the mid-1960s McCarthy moved into opera music, and worked with artists such as
. In 1981 he was made the chorus master of the
.
priory in London. Performances conducted by McCarthy were included in the films ''
''.
all in the "Best Classical Choral Performance" category.
He received his OBE in 1989 for services to music.