Meet the Musicians: Demarre McGill
Before he was even born, Demarre McGill’s destiny as a flutist seemed a foreordained conclusion. His parents used to host parties, at which they’d have jam sessions.
Photo by James Holt
By Leilani Polk
Before he was even born, Demarre McGill’s destiny as a flutist seemed a foreordained conclusion. His parents used to host parties, at which they’d have jam sessions; Demarre’s mom sang, his dad played wooden African flute, his uncle backed them up on bongos. Right before his parents got married, he says, “my mother bought my father a used metal flute, which I found collecting dust in the closet when I was 7. So that’s how the flute entered my life — as a gift from a girlfriend to a boyfriend.”
He started lessons pretty much immediately on that old flute and says he liked it, but over the years, “that like turned into an obsession with the instrument. And that obsession turned into love and that love turned into a career.”
After earning his bachelor’s from The Curtis Institute of Music and master’s at The Juilliard School, he did stints with The Florida Orchestra, San Diego Symphony and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra before landing in Seattle, where he was Principal Flute from 2011–2014. But then he left Seattle to play with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and then the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra before he returned to Seattle to audition, again, for the position of Principal Flute. He left Seattle because, he says, “I tend to do the necessary things to continue to grow and I felt that every decision to move was part of my music education. It’s like that sense of having been out in the world and being able to swim back to shore … I’ve never been happier than I was when I won the audition for Seattle Symphony Principal Flute the second time.”
That was in 2017, the same year he was named Visiting Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he ended up as a tenured Associate Professor of Flute until 2024. Currently, he’s an artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School, and was appointed Professor of Flute for the Conservatory and Music Academy at The Colburn School in Los Angeles for the 2025–2026 and 2026–2027 school years. And in addition to his full-time orchestra and professorship jobs, when his schedule permits, he performs as a guest soloist and in recitals and chamber ensembles all over the U.S.
This relentless work schedule means that when he’s home, relaxing with his wife Roxanne, he prefers to keep it simple. He enjoys taking walks (the Olympic Sculpture Garden along Seattle’s waterfront is a favorite spot) and dining out, although he has a hard time naming a favorite restaurant. “What I will tell you is that I love trying new places and here, you can do that endlessly.”
He also makes time to experience live music. “It doesn’t matter the genre. I just love seeing live performances. My life centers around music and I feel fortunate that’s the case, whether it’s performing, whether it’s teaching, whether it’s just going to concerts, regardless of genre, I’ll hear anyone play or sing.”
He says he’s never left a place because he disliked it. “Because I’m always living in a place to make music, so if I’m there to make music, then that inspires my view of the place. You pair that with, finding your community and finding good food. And Seattle is a gorgeous city. It’s nice just being in a city where you can still walk around in the winter, if you want. And I love playing with this orchestra and in this gorgeous hall that we have as a home. So for all of those reasons, it’s easy to have a vibrant existence here.”
On June 19, 21 & 22, 2025, Demarre performs the West Coast premiere and Symphony co-commission of Allison Loggins-Hull's Rhapsody on a Theme by Joni, which appears in the Ravel Boléro program. He enjoys playing new music as much as the old standards because he’s looking for greatness. “And that greatness 1,000 percent exists in new music as well. … Right now in particular, there are so many wonderful composers writing just tremendous work. I find that if I didn’t seek them out, I would be missing out.”
This ties into a special project that he’s currently working on that will, over the years, produce a great deal of new music for flute. “The goal is to commission, record and tour 21 new works for flute and piano, all by Black composers, over the next 10 years. I’m beyond excited about this project and can’t wait to present music by these great composers to the world.”