Cellist and composer Duncan Strachan performs internationally as a chamber musician, as the cellist of the Maxwell Quartet, an ensemble which he founded in 2010, which has gone on to win prestigious prizes in major competitions across Europe, including the Trondheim International Quartet Competition in 2017. The quartet has performed in the UK's major venues including the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Perth Concert Hall, and tours across the world including the USA, China and Scandinavia, as well as collaborating with musicians including Jonathan Kelly, Benjamin Grosvenor and the Danish String Quartet. Their debut CD on Linn Records will be released in 2019.

Passionate about education, Duncan teaches cello and chamber music at St Mary's Music School and the Music School of Douglas Academy, and has appeared as a guest tutor at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Sistema Scotland, Music in the Round, and St Anne's College Oxford. Duncan studied at St Mary's Music School, Oxford University and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and his cello teachers included Audrey Scott, Pat Hair, Colin Carr and Robert Irvine. Duncan currently holds the position of artistic director of the Loch Shiel Festival in the west highlands of Scotland.