Meet James MacMillan, the Scottish composer whose breakthrough work told the true story of a woman executed for witchcraft in Scotland in 1662.
When was James MacMillan born?
James MacMillan – middle name ‘Loy’, if you’re interested – was born in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire in Scotland on 16 July 1959. A proud Scotsman, MacMillan lives not too far away from there today, in Glasgow. He studied at Edinburgh and Durham Universities in the 1980s, with the likes of Kenneth Leighton and John Casken, before joining the teaching staff at Manchester University for a spell.
What sort of music does James MacMillan write?
A lot of MacMillan’s music is inspired by elements of spirituality, politics and his Scottish roots. Much of it also has emotional or meditative qualities. He has written music in all the major forms – including at least five symphonies, a handful of piano concertos and six operas, plus a huge amount of choral music.
1990: a breakthrough year
1990 was a big year for the composer. He premiered Tryst at the St Magnus Festival and was soon snapped up by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra as an affiliate composer. That same year, James MacMillan's work The Confession of Isobel Gowdie was premiered at the BBC Proms by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Marin Alsop. That opened the ears of the world to his music and international commissions followed.
What are the best works by James MacMillan ?
The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990) is a symphonic Requiem for the real-life 17th-century Scot, who was burned as a witch. Its success at the Proms led to the commissioning of another of his most popular works, the percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel – which was written for Evelyn Glennie. This work has been performed all over the world, at least 500 times.
MacMillan's 1993 cantata The Seven Last Words from the Cross has been followed by other spiritual works for choir, including a Stabat Mater (2015), St John Passion (2008) and St Luke Passion (2013). Another notable work is 2004’s A Scotch Bestiary, which was written to inaugurate the new pipe organ at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.
MacMillan is also a conductor. He performed regularly with the BBC Philharmonic in the early noughties, and also served as principal guest conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic. He has also conducted his own works in concert and on recordings.
Incidentally, he's now Sir James MacMillan: in 2015, he made it on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. That wasn't his first visit to Buckingham Palace, though, for he had already been awarded a CBE in 2004.
2012: a major commission for the year's biggest event
Another highlight of MacMillan's career came when he was chosen to compose a new piece for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the series of cultural events programmed around the 2012 Olympic Games in London. MacMillan composed a work in celebration of Coventry Cathedral, which marked its 50th anniversary that year.
MacMillan was following in the footsteps of Benjamin Britten, who composed his stirring War Requiem for the cathedral's reconsecration in 1962. Coventry Cathedral was rebuilt after German bombing left the former building in ruins during World War II.
Other highlights of the Cultural Olympiad included the UK premiere of Philip Glass's opera Einstein on the Beach, and a new commission by English National Opera (ENO).
The Sacrifice: MacMillan's opera set in a dystopian future
Another of MacMillan's best known works is his opera The Sacrifice, set 70 years in the future when oil has become scarce and society is divided into feudal factions. For this work, MacMillan joined forces with librettist Michael Symmons Roberts. 'It was a story that Michael had been aware of, partly because of his work in Wales and he also has some kind of Welsh lineage in his family,' MacMillan explained to our interviewer Daniel Jaffé.
'The Mabinogion [from which the story is taken] is a very important collection of medieval tales, written in Welsh. It really should be known all over the British Isles because it’s a story of these islands, but it’s the Welsh who have kept the myths alive. The heart of it is some sort of conflict between two tribes.'
Meaning between Britain and Ireland? 'I think so, yes, from a long while ago. Anyway when Welsh National Opera approached us to write an opera it seemed a very natural choice to take this Welsh story, although our treatment of it is much more ambiguous about its period; [the director] Katie Mitchell’s take on it was to set it in the near future.'
'The opera wasn’t meant to be specifically about the British and the Irish'
Did contemporary events influence MacMillan and Roberts when writing the opera? The opera wasn’t meant to be specifically about [tensions between] the British and the Irish – though certainly the Irish dimension is there right at the beginning of The Mabinogion, and it certainly cropped up a lot in our discussions earlier on. But that particular conflict in recent times hasn’t deteriorated into the kind of chaos that we’ve seen in other European countries, such as in the Balkans and Chechnya which is probably a lot more like our scenario. So we’re quite indistinct who the different tribes are, or even whether it’s in this country.'
Handpicked performers
MacMillan requested soprano Lisa Milne and baritone Christopher Purves for the cast of The Sacrifice. 'Christopher sang in my first opera, Inés de Castro; he was the executioner – quite a small role, but it’s a black comedic scene and he stole the show. Although the role of the General [in The Sacrifice] is very different he is a great actor, with a great on-stage presence.
'Katie, who needs good actors for what she does, was delighted that we chose him because she’s worked with him a lot before and he’s very malleable and actorly in his approach to his various roles; you can’t say that about every singer! And then both he and Lisa were my singers in Parthenogenesis, a smaller music theatre piece first performed in 2000.
'I’ve known Lisa since she was a young student up here in Scotland – I’ve listened to her voice develop and even in those early days I had in mind that she would be a great principal soprano for this piece. So incorporating her into the Parthenogenesis performances was a way of building up that relationship and getting her to work with Chris.'
2022: A work for a Royal funeral
James MacMillan also composed the anthem 'Who Shall Separate Us?', for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. Scored for eight unaccompanied voices, his composition set verses from Chapter 8 of St Paul's Epistle to the Romans, beginning 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?'.
The anthem was first performed during the funeral ceremony at Westminster Abbey. It was sung by the choirs of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal, and was conducted by James O'Donnell, the Abbey's music director.
2024: an Ivors Award
Early in 2024, MacMillan was awarded the Academy Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the Ivors Academy. The Fellowship was awarded at the Barbican on 15 March, where MacMillan conducted the UK premiere of his work Fiat Lux with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, soprano Mary Bevan and baritone Roderick Williams.
James MacMillan's best recordings
Veni, Veni, Emmanuel
This is how you need to hear MacMillan's percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel. It's performed by Dame Evelyn Glennie, for whom the work was written. Accompaniment comes from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with the composer himself conducting. (RCA Red Seal)
The Confession of Isobel Gowdie
James MacMillan himself conducts this recording of his breakthrough opera, about a woman accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Scotland. His Third Symphony also features.
From our review: 'The work is a hauntingly ambivalent study at both the musical and philosophical levels, with themes and textures arising seemingly from their own absence, interacting and developing, then being allowed to return to their origins.' (Chandos)
Tenebrae Responsories
The Choir of Westminster Cathedral; London Brass/Martin Baker; Peter Stevens (organ)
From our review: 'Check your volume setting carefully before pressing play on this recording – track one, Tu es Petrus, has the capacity to rattle windows from 50 paces.'
Read our reviews of the latest James Macmillan recordings
Top image credit: Simone Padovani/Awakening/Getty Images