Meet Alessandro MacKinnon-Botti (2021) who won the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra’s Senior Concerto Competition with his work Voice-Leading, scored for Solo Beatboxer and Orchestra, which was presented in the orchestra’s 2024 Composers’ Workshop.
Alessandro was nine when his teacher recommended that he join a choir. He was reluctant. “I was in primary school and I thought it wouldn’t be cool. You don’t want to be singing at that age, but I decided to take it up and it was probably the best decision that I have made because it got me here,” he says.
Alessandro was part of a choir called Libera, which had a lot of international success allowing him to travel all over the world. During secondary school he joined the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School Schola Cantorum. Then learning the organ in year 10 led him to become an organ scholar at Oriel College. He says: “It was under the guidance of Professor David Maw that I definitely found myself and he helped me find myself musically as well”.
During the Covid pandemic Alessandro, inspired by the people across the world learning new skills, decided to try beatboxing. “I thought, if I sit here and do nothing, it will be a waste. I’ve got to make the best of this scenario and I stumbled across this video of beatboxing and I just immersed myself completely into the world of it.”
Inspired by his newfound love for beatboxing, his years of classical music training and encouraged by his composition tutor, Dr Luke Lewis, Alessandro decided to write the beatbox concerto, which won him the Oxford Philharmonic competition. “I think composition should be fun. Something that you enjoy doing and something that you think the audience will enjoy. Maximum enjoyment is what I am going for.”