The duo ‘coming home’ to Andalucía

Cellist Dave Gee and pianist Lynne Mackey form the Gee Mackey duo who are currently in Nerja where they will be giving a concert this Friday evening (21 November) ahead of two further performances in Andalucía over the next week.

This isn’t the first time the musicians have performed here and in fact Dave says that coming to Andalucía is like “coming home” as the classically trained cellist spent five years in Granada from 1990 to 1995 as assistant principal cellist of the local orchestra.

It was at a time when Spanish cities were establishing orchestras. He was studying at Yale University at the time when the country looked internationally for talent to make up the numbers.

Lynne has a Doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, a Masters degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.

She has won competitions and combines her time between teaching music and giving solo performances as well as concerts with Dave.

The duo have been performing together since 2003 when Lynne was looking for a cellist for the group she was already playing in. They hit it off and decided they could work together.

Although they don’t live near each other, they say that they “make it work” and explain that they share the same work philosophy: “We like playing in different kinds of venues and want to choose what, when and where we play,”they explain, adding, “A priority for us is not having other people telling us what to play. We get to work on our own terms. It’s one of the fundamental things of our playing together.”

Dave introduced Lynne to Spain in 2008 when they first came to perform in Nerja and that is when they also made contacts that would see them coming back to a place they both “love”.

While Dave and Lynne plan to visit Granada during their trip, they say they don’t have any concerts planned there this time.

Touching on being a musician during what feels like turbulent times globally, Lynne says, “It’s a good time to be a musician. It’s so good to be part of doing things that make people happy. People need something to feel good about. I’m happy to be part of that.”

At this evening’s concert, which is taking place at the Nerja Cultural Centre and starts at 8pm, they will be playing pieces by Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Falla and twentieth century French composer Nadia Boulanger. The concert is being held to raise funds for Nerja-based dog charity APAA.

On Wednesday 26 November the duo will be performing in the auditorium of the Excmo. Ateneo de Sevilla, where they will be joined by violinist and long-standing friend, Clare Applewhite, who Dave knows through links from his time in Granada. There they will perform pieces by Mozart and the concert starts at 7pm.

On Thursday 27 they are giving two concerts at the Fundación Valentín Madariaga in Seville, at 12pm and at 7pm. The concert in Gibraltar is on Saturday 29 November at the Holy Trinity Cathedral at 7pm and is also a fundraising event.

Now in their 60s, Lynne and Dave laugh that they are “planning on continuing until our fingers fall off” and are already thinking about the next concerts in Europe, which of course will include a visit to their beloved Andalucía.