Since winning the 1982 Isle of Man International Double Bass Competition, Duncan McTier has established a reputation as one of the world's leading double bass soloists. He has appeared as soloist all over the world and made more than fifty recordings for radio, TV and record companies. He obtained a mathematics degree at Bristol University before joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra. After seven years as principal bass of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra he returned to England to concentrate on a career as soloist, chamber musician and pedagogue. He has collaborated with many of the world's most distinguished string quartets, and artists such as Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, Nobuko Imai and Heinrich Schiff. Composers who have written works especially for him include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Gavin Bryars, Robin Holloway and John Casken. Duncan McTier is Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Winterthur and the Reina Sofia School in Madrid.