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James MacMillan

James MacMillan is among the leading Scottish composers of modern times, with performances of his work often occurring around the U.K. and beyond. He is also active as a conductor. MacMillan was born in Kilwinning, in Scotland's North Ayrshire region, on July 16, 1959, but most of his childhood was spent in Cumnock, East Ayrshire. His family was working-class and was devoted to the Catholic church. MacMillan attended the University of Edinburgh, studying composition with Rita McAllister and Kenneth Leighton, then moved to Durham University for studies with John Casken. He earned an undergraduate degree at Durham and then a PhD in 1987. By that time, he had already begun teaching as a lecturer at Victoria University in Manchester, England. In 1988, his music theater piece Búsqueda was performed at the Edinburgh International Festival. MacMillan scored a major breakthrough in 1990 when his orchestral work The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, a tone poem about a woman accused of witchcraft and eventually executed, was played by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the BBC Proms summer concerts. The success of those works led to more commissions for MacMillan, some of them from major soloists. His percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992) was composed for percussionist Evelyn Glennie and has since been performed by many other musicians. Mstislav Rostropovich premiered MacMillan's cello concerto in 1997. MacMillan has written several operas and a large amount of sacred music, including a Magnificat (1999), the Mass for 2000 (commissioned by Westminster Cathedral and including passages for congregational singers), the Strathclyde Motets (2008), and a widely praised Stabat mater (2016); Catholicism has continued to exert a strong influence on his work. Another strand of MacMillan's style comes from Scottish traditional music, which may be combined with modernist dissonance. MacMillan has remained active as a conductor, leading the BBC Philharmonic from 2000 to 2009 and appearing as a guest with other major orchestras in Britain, the U.S., and other countries, including the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. MacMillan was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2004. MacMillan has remained possibly more prolific than ever in late middle age, issuing a Christmas Oratorio and the 40-part motet Vidi aquam in 2019.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography

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Gramophone Guide to Concerto