Mr McFall's Chamber
was formed with the aim to create new audiences, new music and new directions in music. The group has a policy of mixing widely different styles in the same programme – anything from progressive rock, tango, cartoon classics, folk, jazz, early music to contemporary classical – to introduce audiences to music they otherwise might not encounter. Running through the group’s history and planning for the future is a genuine desire to broaden the appeal of the (often lesser-known) music that it plays. The group is also dedicated to supporting the work of UK composers and regularly commissions new works, as well as generating new music from within the ranks of the ensemble.

The group was formed in 1996 from a number of players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Scottish Ballet, with a core group comprising two violins, viola, cello and bass. The group collaborates with additional musicians from project to project – regularly working with additional pianists, percussionists, singers and soloists, depending on the nature of the programme. Over the years, the ensemble has built up a reputation for excellent music-making and has a growing following who trust the group to deliver exciting and innovative programmes, even when this includes music that they may never have heard before. These aims are combined with a pursuit of excellence in performance and a desire to make the concert-going experience as enjoyable as possible.

The group is unique among ensembles in Scotland, and much of the rest of the UK, offering concert-goers a genuinely different and exciting live experience.

This approach to innovative music-making has not gone unnoticed and they have recently been called ‘the jewel in the Scottish musical crown’ (Jan Fairley, The Scotsman). Writing in The Times, Robert Dawson-Scott acknowledged what it is that sets Mr McFall’s Chamber apart from other groups: ‘Why can’t all concerts be like this - engaging, witty, relaxed, sophisticated, exquisitely played and just plain fun?’

Commissioning new works forms the core of the McFall's touring season, from supporting up and coming composers to commissioning international figures such as Tim Garland, Gavin Bryars, Martin Suckling and Martin Kershaw amongst others. Martin Suckling's What shall I give and Martin Kershaw's Closing In, were shortlisted as finalists for the British Composer Awards 2011.

Victor Villena
won the “Best Soloist” award in the National Competition of Cosquin (Argentina) in 1997. Following this, he performed with several different orchestras in Buenos Aires, notably the National Tango Orchestra of Argentina (1996) and Color Tango (1998),

Victor emigrated to France in 1999 . In that same year he joined Mosalini’s Grand Orchestre de Tango which took him on several tours throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. In October 2000, he appeared as a soloist in the Astor Piazzolla piece “Bando” on an album with this orchestra.

In June 2000 Victor performed a series of concerts with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Loire, under the direction of Hubert Sudain. At the same time he collaborated with Gustavo Beytelmann, on the album “An Argentinian at the Louvre” with the Ensemble Camerata de Bourgogne and the Boréal String Quartet.

In 2001 and 2002 he played in the Julia Migenes show “Latin Passions”, which took him to the Olympia in Paris, and with her other production “La Argentina” to the Théâtre de Châtelet. In 2003 Victor was invited by the Orchestra of Besançon under the direction of Peter CSABA to play the “Concerto for Bandoneon and Orchestra” by Astor Piazzolla.

His varied musical interests have also brought him to the world of jazz, by a series of concerts with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra conducted by Carlos Franzetti. Also known on the electronic music scene as the bandoneonist of “Gotan Project”, he toured the United States, Canada and Brazil.

In 2004 Victor co-founded with guitarist Alejandro Schwarz the “El Después” quintet and he also joined the Rotterdam Conservatoire as the main bandoneon professor. Between 2004 and 2007 Victor recorded and produced the Quintet «El Después», he performed in Buenos Aires International Tango Festival and did a series of concerts in Japan, Croatia, Germany, England, and France.

In 2007 he became musical director of Piazzolla’s Opera «Maria de Buenos Aires» at the National theater of Lisbon, with musicians of the Symphonic National orchestra of Portugal.

In 2009 he performed with classical music stars like Baiba Skride (queen Elizabeth winner), Jan Vogler, Carrie Dennis at the international «Moritzurg Festival».

He peformed «Reves et Désirs», composed by Leo Sujatovich, with the «Orchestre Philarmonique Radio France» in July 2010, and created «Together» for Violoncello and Tango Quintet with Henri Demarquette.

Victor Villena collaborates with the elite of the contemporany tango argentine composers: Sonia Possetti, Fernando Otero, Alejandro Schwarz, Gustavo Beytelmann, Leo Sujatovich , Daniel Binelli and Diego Schissi.