James MacMillan

About

James MacMillan is one of Scotland's most distinctive classical composers, someone whose music sits right at the intersection of fierce Catholic spirituality and sharp political conscience. His breakthrough came at the BBC Proms in 1990 with The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, a work that sought absolution on behalf of Scottish women executed for witchcraft in the 17th century. The piece caused an immediate stir and opened the door to major commissions, including Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, a percussion concerto written for Evelyn Glennie that has since become his most performed work. MacMillan spent nearly a decade as composer and conductor with the BBC Philharmonic and has collaborated closely with poet Michael Symmons Roberts on everything from opera to large scale choral pieces. Sacred music runs deep through his catalogue, from Masses designed to be sung by ordinary congregations to his St John Passion, jointly commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2008. Scottish traditional music surfaces throughout his writing too, giving it a particular texture that feels rooted and unmistakably personal.