Thriving in classical music, McGill brothers reunite to play side by side in Chicago

Anthony and Demarre McGill are classical music’s Chicago guys.

The two brothers grew up in the city’s Chatham neighborhood. Both pursued music and have gone on to major solo and orchestral careers, and now they are coming back to their hometown for their first appearances at the Grant Park Music Festival.

“Growing up on the South Side of Chicago,” said Anthony, 40, who is finishing his fifth season as principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, “I could never have imagined that I’d be flying in from New York to perform in Grant Park. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it.”

Crazy or not, Anthony and Demarre, 43, principal flutist of the Seattle Symphony, will team up as soloists in two works with the Grant Park Orchestra in concerts Friday and Saturday evening in Pritzker Pavilion.

The brothers will present the second set of performances anywhere of the Concerto Duo by Joel Puckett, an associate professor at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. It was commissioned for them by the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras, where the composer was in residence in 2010-12.

The two performed the premiere with music director Allen Tinkham and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra in 2012, and they recorded it with same ensemble for “Winged Creatures,” an album that was released in May on the Chicago-based Cedille Records label.

“It has a lot of references to some of Joel’s family connections,” Anthony said, “so it feels like a little bit like coming home to my brother and me when we play it. It’s not only a really special piece, but it’s also fun and exciting.”

Featured as well will be Camille Saint-Saëns’ seven-minute Tarantelle for Flute Clarinet and Orchestra, Op. 6, (1857), which can also be heard on “Winged Creatures.” The two first performed the work on a segment of the celebrated public-television program “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” when they were still teenagers.

“That really is and maybe will be for the rest of my life the most thrilling experience of my existence,” said Demarre. “It was amazing.” The budding flutist enrolled at Philadelphia’s prestigious Curtis Institute of Music when he was 17, and a classmate who knew Rogers was instrumental in getting the brothers on the show.

Denver Rispel Photo/Courtesy Grant Park Music Festival

He began studying the flute at age 7, later taking lessons from Susan Levitin in Hyde Park and attending the Merit School of Music in the West Loop. “It was and still is a wonderful, important institution in Chicago,” he said. “Just the opportunity to be around like-minded kids was far more than beneficial for us.”

Demarre’s father was an amateur flutist, and the boy discovered a flute around the house that his mother had purchased for his father from Sears when they were still dating. “I loved it immediately,” he said, becoming quickly “obsessed” with music and the instrument.

The story was largely the same for Anthony, who was eager to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Their mother was insistent that there not be two flutists in the family, so at the suggestion of the director, he chose clarinet in fourth grade, when he was signing up for band class in school.

Like his older brother, he took classes at the Merit School, and he began boarding school at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan at 15. The two spent some summers at the Interlochen Arts Camp when they were younger.

“We got along really well,” Anthony said. “I basically wanted to do everything that my brother did, so I was trying to copy him in a lot of different ways. He was really into music, so I was. He was kind of my No. 1 supporter beside my parents growing up.”

Both brothers have gone on to impressive careers, performing 10-20 concerts a year in addition to their work with their respective orchestras. They try to perform at least a few concerts each year together, including concerts with the McGill/McHale Trio, which includes pianist Michael McHale. The group has a concert Dec. 19 at the 92nd Street Y, a New York City concert venue.

“Musically speaking, I’m excited because I love playing with him. And it’s built-in family time, so it’s a win-win,” Demarre said.

The brothers are happy for any chance to come back to Chicago, and they are especially thrilled about this chance to perform at the Grant Park Music Festival, which they knew and admired as up-and-coming musicians.

Their parents, who now live in Texas, plan to be in the audience, and they expect many other family members and friends to attend the concerts.

“It still feels like home,” Anthony said of Chicago, “and we have so many memories there of playing in all the venues. So, it’s really special.”

Kyle MacMillan is a local freelance writer.