Augusta McKay-Lodge

Praised as “the real thing, a true virtuoso” and “an exceptional violinist” (Seen and Heard International), Ms. McKay Lodge is an international prize-winning baroque and modern violinist based in New York and Paris. Enjoying a flourishing solo career, McKay Lodge has had concerto appearances in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully (Mendelssohn Concerto), a concert series with Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra (Bach A minor Violin Concerto), and many featured solos as concertmaster of Juilliard415. Most recently she gave her solo debut in Carnegie Hall. 

McKay Lodge has claimed grand prizes in Concert Artists International, Juilliard’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition, the Indianapolis Baroque Concerto Competition, and placed as semifinalist in Le Concours Corneille (France), International Musica Antiqua Competition, and finalist in the 2016 International Indianapolis Baroque Concerto Competition. Her ensemble Voyage Sonique placed second in the international Lyceum Club de Suisse Concours de Musique. 

McKay Lodge’s debut solo album of unaccompanied baroque violin works – Beyond Bach and Vivaldi – is released on the Naxos label, April 13 2018. It was named one of the top 20 albums of 2018 by WQXR, and it is under consideration for the 61st Grammy Awards. Early Music America wrote, “Lodge’s special skill, in addition to her intonational and tonal felicities, is … an inexpressible sense of pace and pause that focuses the listener’s attention on each piece’s most poignant moments.” 

McKay Lodge is named an English Concert American Fellow, a Juilliard-Mercury Fellow, and a Kovner Fellow. She has held concertmaster of New York’s The American Classical Orchestra. She joins Les Arts Florissants, Le Poème Harmonique, Les Talens Lyrique, and Opéra Fuoco in their 2019-2020 season and has performed regularly in leading historical orchestras such as The American Classical Orchestra, Mercury: an Orchestra Redefined, Oregon Bach Festival, Apollo’s Fire: The Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, and Les Arts Florissants. McKay Lodge has performed, with solo and chamber music capacities, in venues such as Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), Alice Tully Hall (Lincoln Center, NY), Carnegie Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, The French Consulate (NY), The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), and Severance Hall (Cleveland). 

As concertmaster, McKay Lodge has led The American Classical Orchestra and Juilliard415. She is also concertmaster of Bach Akademie Charlotte and Washington Bach Consort. She has performed in concertmaster and solo capacities under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, William Christie, Masaaki Suzuki, Ton Koopman, and Kristian Bezuidenhout. McKay Lodge enjoyed sitting concertmaster for Bach’s B Minor Mass and performing the solo Laudamus Te on Juilliard415’s 2016 Netherlands tour. She also performed a featured concertmaster solo on Juilliard415’s West Coast tour with Nicolas McGegan, after which she was said to have “worked especially hard and to the challenges beautifully” (New York Times). 

She is a founding member of her own ensemble, Voyage Sonique in New York.