Educated at home until the age of 11, MacGregor first studied piano with her mother, then at Cambridge University, London’s Royal Academy of Music, and the Van Cliburn Piano Institute. She wrote music for television before her innovative talent was fully recognized. Although classically trained, MacGregor’s interests extend through all musical forms from many lands. She has performed internationally, her collaborators ranging from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Andy Sheppard, Michael Tilson Thomas to Moses Taiwa Molelekwa. She teaches extensively, including being Professor of Music at London’s Gresham College, 1997-2000. Composers whose work she plays include Django Bates, Harrison Birtwistle, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, Conlon Nancarrow, Arvo Pärt, Erik Satie, Nitin Sawhney, Domenico Scarlatti, Talvin Singh. She has performed multimedia projects in London and China, some with her own SoundCircus, and has appeared at and directed numerous music festivals.

Always searching, MacGregor’s remarkable abilities have brought her widespread recognition, many awards and honorary doctorates. In addition to performing, she has published several music books, many for children, has hosted her own television series, and has written a radio play about Satie and adapted Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle as a stage musical.