Keir GoGwilt is a violinist and composer who was born in Edinburgh and grew up in New York City. His work combines his historical & musicological research with collaborative experimentation. As a violinist he has been described as a "formidable performer" (New York Times) with an "evocative sound" (London Jazz News) and "finger-busting virtuosity" (San Diego Union Tribune). In past seasons he has soloed with groups including the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chinese National Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the La Jolla Symphony. A founding member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), he has composed and performed original, collaboratively-devised music, dance, and theater works at 92NY, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Luminato Festival, PS 122 COIL, Stanford Live, American Repertory Theater, Carolina Performing Arts, Momentary, Monday Evening Concerts, and the Ojai Music Festival.

This year he released "The Edinburgh Rollick," with Ruckus Early Music, featuring Scottish fiddle music from the Niel Gow collections. The album has been noted for its "dynamic, improvisatory spirit" (The Strad), and his playing for its "deep stylistic understanding of the Scottish trad sound" (Early Music America). Other current projects include the "Zarabanda Variations": a co-authored collection of songs and dances reflecting Baroque histories and futurisms of New Spain, including performances this season at the Peabody Essex Museum and Lincoln Center. As composer-in-residence with the JACK quartet he is working on a modular series of pieces exploring counterpoint and tuning called "A Treatise on Limited Freedoms," premiering at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival in August 2025 and the 92NY in March 2026. He is currently composing a piece for the Bergamot Quartet (playing a quartet of hardanger instruments) and harpist Jacqueline Kerrod with the support of the Barlow Endowment.

Recent past projects include creating and performing a stage role for Bobbi Jene Smith's "Marie & Pierre," with original music by Celeste Oram at Theater Basel. His duo with bassist Kyle Motl features their original compositions and has been noted for its "rhapsodic gestures" (The New Yorker) and "keen musical intellects" (The Wire). His compositions with violinist Johnny Chang have been praised for their "patience, poise, and consummate balance" (Night After Night) and "mystical ecstasy" (Esoteros). He has worked closely with musicians including Matthew Aucoin, Carolyn Chen, Tan Dun, Mark Dresser, Malcolm Goldstein, George Lewis, Tobias Picker, Eyvind Kang, Jessika Kenney, Celeste Oram, Steve Schick, Caroline Shaw and Wilfrido Terrazas, appearing on records put out by Another Timbre, Tzadik, Clean Feed, 577 Records, and BMOP.

GoGwilt earned his PhD in Music from UC San Diego in 2022, where he was advised by Amy Cimini and Anthony Burr, and was awarded the Chancellor's Dissertation Medal for the Division of Arts & Humanities. His research on histories and philosophies of performance, pedagogy, and embodiment has been published in the Bach Journal, Current Musicology, Naxos Musicology, and the Orpheus Institute Series.

photo by Peter Gannushkin