McGill is originally from
Chicago, Illinois, growing up in the city's
Chatham neighborhood. He studied music at the
Merit School of Music in Chicago, attended the
Interlochen Arts Academy and the
Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and is an instructor at the
Peabody Institute at
Johns Hopkins University McGill was a recipient of the 2000
Avery Fisher Career Grant and was the 2020 recipient of the
Avery Fisher Prize, awarded to "solo instrumentalists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement and excellence in music". With
Itzhak Perlman,
Yo-Yo Ma, and
Gabriela Montero, McGill recorded and performed
John Williams's "
Air and Simple Gifts", composed for the
inauguration of President
Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. Although the music played was a recording made two days before because of concerns that the cold weather might damage the instruments, the quartet was actually playing at the same time as the recording. McGill's older brother,
Demarre, is the principal flutist of the
Seattle Symphony and previously held the same position with the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the
San Diego Symphony. and
The Florida Orchestra. ==References==