Mark McDonald
Mark McDonald (b. 1987; Burlington, Ontario, Canada) is a doctoral student at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music where he studies organ and harpsichord with Hans-Ola Ericsson and Hank Knox. He holds a Masters and Artist Diploma from McGill University (under John Grew) and a Bachelor of Music from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario (with David Cameron). In 2012-13 he studied as a visiting scholar at the University of the Arts in Bremen, Germany where he worked with Edoardo Bellotti, Hans Davidsson and Harald Vogel. 
In addition to his work as a performer and researcher, he is also an instructor of Musicianship and Theory at the Schulich School of Music and the McGill Conservatory. As a church musician, he has held appointments in Montreal at the Church of Saint James the Apostle, Christ Church Cathedral, and is the newly-appointed College Organist at the Montreal Diocesan Theological College.
About this project:
My interest in improvisation was first cultivated by my studies with William Porter at McGill University, with whom I began working on liturgical improvisational techniques in both early and contemporary styles. This was further enhanced by my studies in Bremen with Edoardo Bellotti, where I focused on identifying improvisational principles in the works of both early and late 17th century Praeludia of North German composers. My current doctoral research, which examines the interrelationships between clavichord, harpsichord, and organ performance practice in the 17th-century Hamburg organ tradition will be further aided by studies in the improvisational practices of the time.