James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful living composers and is also internationally active as a conductor. His musical language is flooded with influences from his Scottish heritage, Catholic faith, social conscience and close connection with Celtic folk music, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.
MacMillan first became internationally recognised after the extraordinary success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie at the BBC Proms in 1990. His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the world, placing him in the front rank of today’s composers. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which has received more than 400 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich, the large scale choral-orchestral work Quickening, and three symphonies. Recent major works include his St John Passion, co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Rundfunkchor Berlin; his Violin Concerto, co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Concertgebouw Zaterdag Matinee and the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris; and most recently his Piano Concerto No.3, Mysteries of Light, which received its world premiere by the Minnesota Orchestra and Jean-Yves Thibaudet conducted by Osmo Vänskä in 2011.
MacMillan’s music has been the focus of many major festivals and residencies over the years, such as the London Symphony Orchestra’s 2009/10 season ‘Artist Portrait’ which, alongside the world premiere of his Violin Concerto, included MacMillan conducting the orchestra in the City of London Festival, a revival of the St John Passion with Sir Colin Davis, performances of his trumpet concerto Epiclesis and an education project based on his work for ensemble and orchestra Into the Ferment.
James MacMillan has directed many of his own works on disc for Chandos, BIS and BMG, most recently a disc featuring MacMillan’s violin concerto A Deep but Dazzling Darkness and percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel with Colin Currie and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie. Other recent releases include an LSO Live disc of his St John Passion with the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis, a live recording of his opera The Sacrifice from its premiere performance by the Welsh National Opera in 2007 on Chandos, and a Grammy-nominated disc of Sun-Dogs and Visitatio Sepulchri with the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie and Choir on BIS.
MacMillan was awarded a CBE in January 2004.