Biography
Madeline Hall is a Canadian guitarist, composer, improviser, and arranger, whose work spans solo performance, chamber music, jazz, heavy metal, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Named on CBC's list of "30 under 30 top Canadian classical musicians", she is described as a "tremendously authoritative and powerful performer" (CBC Radio). Passionate about bridging diverse musical traditions, Madeline draws on her wide-ranging background across genres to showcase the classical guitar’s incredible ability to traverse any aesthetic world. Madeline’s concert repertoire mixes the standard classical guitar canon with jazz, free improvisation, rock/metal, and original compositions. Madeline is a C.V Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School, and holds a Masters Degree in classical guitar from the institution. She is the first ever guitarist to be accepted into both of Juilliard’s artist diploma and doctoral programs, and will be the second guitarist in Juilliard’s history to receive a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. An active performer across North America and internationally, Madeline has appeared in recital at venues including Zankel Hall, the Aspen Music Festival and School, Music Toronto, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, the Pierneef Theatre in Pretoria, South Africa, and the Ottawa Guitar Society. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the London Symphonia, The Western University Symphony Orchestra, and the London Community Orchestra. As a jazz guitarist, Madeline has appeared on the Jazz FM.91 (Toronto) radio program, Jazzology and served as the rhythm section leader for the Western University Jazz Ensemble for four years.
Madeline is deeply engaged with contemporary and interdisciplinary performance. She is passionate about expanding the boundaries of the classical guitar and redefining its role as a dramatic, expressive tool in contemporary performance. During her studies at Juilliard, she has premiered several new works including her own compositions, arrangements, and structured improvisations, as well as collaborative projects involving music, theatre, and dance. She also served as Paul Simon’s understudy and rehearsal guitarist in Juilliard’s Fall Festival closing performance conducted by Barbara Hannigan.
Madeline has won prizes at several competitions, including third prize at Boston GuitarFest, first place at the Quebec International Music competition, the Kiwanis Festival’s Rosebowl prize, and first place at Ontario Music Festival Association’s open-level guitar competition.
As a composer/arranger, she is passionate about creating new works for chamber ensembles with guitar. She has arranged and performed several works for guitar and saxophone as part of a long-term initiative to increase the body of concert repertoire for the instrumentation alongside saxophonist Veronica Leahy. Madeline’s arrangement of Danzas Argentinas for Guitar Trio was premiered by the Aspen Guitar Trio at the 2025 Aspen Music Festival and School, and the quartet edition will be premiered by the Juilliard Studio Guitar Quartet in April, 2026. Compositions of Madeline’s that have been performed in concert include Contemplations for Solo Guitar, Supernova for guitar, saxophone, and percussion, Departure for jazz sextet, and Four Songs of Emily Dickinson for soprano and guitar.
Madeline is a dedicated educator and advocate for the classical guitar. Her teaching experience includes private instruction, teaching for the PALS program at the Aspen Music Festival, guest lecturing at universities/music schools in Cape Town and Pretoria, South Africa, teaching masterclasses for the Ottawa Guitar Society and Western University. Originally from London, Ontario, Madeline earned her Bachelor of Music from Western University, where she studied with Wilma van Berkel.
