Livestreams & Broadcasts
Netherlands Philharmonic Radio Orchestra and Choir | January 2021
James MacMillan: Christmas Oratorio (world premiere)
Sir James MacMillan (conductor)
Click to listen on NPO Radio 4
Conducting highlights & programmes
James MacMillan was Composer-Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic from 2000-2009 and of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonie from 2009-2013. In Spring 2014 MacMillan conducted three projects with the BBC Scottish Symphony including a the orchestra’s first tour to India. Highlights of the current season include a new production of his 1990 opera Ines de Castro with Scottish opera, Composer in Residence with the Sao Paulo Symphony where he conducts a choral programme, return conducting engagements with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and debuts with Bergen Philharmonic among others. In recent seasons he has conducted orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony and New Zealand Symphony.
Orchestral conducting programmes:
Britten Four Sea Interludes
MacMillan Credo
MacMillan The Sacrifice: Three Interludes
Vaughan Williams Symphony No.4
Adès Polaris
MacMillan Viola Concerto
Anderson Prayer
Turnage Frieze
MacMillan The Sacrifice: Three Interludes
Elgar Cello Concerto
Vaughan Williams Symphony No.4
Rimsky-Korsakov Russian Easter Festival Overture
Beethoven Piano Concerto No.4
Wagner Good Friday Music
MacMillan The World’s Ransoming
Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
MacMillan St Luke Passion
Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture, Op.26
Mozart Violin Concerto No.5
MacMillan Symphony No.3, ‘Silence’
Britten Prelude & Fugue op.29
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1
MacMillan Seven Last Words from the Cross
Ulvo Shadows and Shields (premiere)
MacMillan Viola Concerto
Mendelssohn Symphony No.3 in A minor, Op.56 'Scottish'
Choral conducting programmes:
MacMillan After Virtue
Gorecki Church Songs (selection)
MacMillan Sun Dogs
INTERVAL
MacMillan Cum vidisset Jesus
MacMillan They Saw the Stone had been Rolled Away
MacMillan Alleluia
MacMillan Catherine's Lullabies
Victoria Tenebrae Responsaries (excerpts)
MacMillan Sun Dogs
INTERVAL
Poulenc Salve Regina / Ave verum corpus / Exultate Deo
MacMillan Mairi / O bone Jesu
Residencies
Composer of the Year, Pittsburgh Symphony 2016/17
Composer in Residence, Grafenegg Festival 2012
Making Music Carnegie Hall, 2011
Principal Guest Conductor, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonie 2009-2013
London Symphony Orchestra Artist Portrait, 2009/10
Composer-Conductor, BBC Philharmonic 2000-2009
Compositions
James MacMillan is one of today’s most performed composers, with a rich catalogue of orchestral and choral music performed by leadings orchestras around the world. Recent years have brought a successful sequence of concertos by MacMillan: for violinist Vadim Repin, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet (his third piano concerto), oboist Nicholas Daniel, violist Lawrence Power and percussionist Colin Currie (his second percussion concerto). 2014 saw MacMillan launching Cumnock Tryst, a new music festival in his home town of Cumnock, Ayrshire.
The music of James MacMillan is published by Boosey & Hawkes
Selected work highlights:
Percussion Concerto No. 2 (2014)
Solo percussion and orchestra (soloist Colin Currie)
St Luke Passion (2013) 60'
SATB chorus, children's choir, organ and chamber orchestra
Viola Concerto (2013) 31'
Viola and orchestra (soloist Lawrence Power)
Oboe Concerto (2010) 23'
Oboe and chamber orchestra
Violin Concerto (2009) 25'
Violin and orchestra (soloist Vadim Repin)
Piano Concerto no. 3 (2008) 25'
Piano and orchestra (soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet)
St John Passion (2007) 87'
Baritone, small chorus, large chorus and orchestra
The Sacrifice: Three Interludes (2006) 15'
Orchestral overture
Symphony No. 3: ‘Silence’ (2002) 36'
Orchestra
Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993) 45'
Cantata for chamber choir and strings
Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992) 26'
Solo percussion and orchestra (soloists include Colin Currie)
The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (1990) 26'
Symphony orchestra
Sunday Times"A towering performance by the BBC Philharmonic under the composer James MacMillan. He is proving a conductor of daunting ability."
New York Times"MacMillan conducted his own music that was ceaselessly inventive, evocative and penetrating... His estimable mastery of orchestral timbre and effect was evident throughout."
Herald"How do we characterise the phenomenal concert given on Saturday night by the BBC SSO, with a string of premieres, all conducted by the man himself? The night featured music that was beguiling, intriguing, poignant, hilarious, electrifyingly exciting, challenging and, for those who know a little about MacMillan's music, comprehensively revelatory."