Sir James MacMillan: Online Lecture

The Catholic Institute of Sacred Music presents its 4th Annual Public Lecture and Concert Series

"Setting the Words of the Mass to Music in the Secular Environment of Our Time:
A Catholic Composer’s Experience"

Lecture by Sir James MacMillan

Join the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music and Sir James MacMillan live via Zoom for a lecture featuring the works of Sir James and an opportunity to engage in conversation.

Live via Zoom
An RSVP via Eventbrite is required.

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10 a.m. Pacific | 11 a.m. Mountain | 12 p.m. noon Central | 1:00 p.m. Eastern

Already registered? The Zoom link to access the talk is available on Eventbrite's Online Event Page. We also send the link out via email from Eventbrite starting 3 days before the lecture.

About the Lecturer
Sir James MacMillan is one of today’s most successful composers and performs internationally 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, and is distinctive for its rhythmic excitement and powerful emotional communication.

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. His major works include percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, which has received close to 500 performances, a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich, and five symphonies. Recent major works include his Percussion Concerto No. 2 for Colin Currie, Violin Concerto No. 2 for Nicola Benedetti and his Symphony No. 5, written for The Sixteen, which was premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019 as part of a major feature to celebrate his 60th birthday year. Most recently, several new works for chorus and orchestra have been premiered including his Christmas Oratorio premiered by the London Philharmonic in 2021 and Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia, a celebration of the power of music, premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony in 2023.

MacMillan enjoys a successful career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, and is praised for the composer’s insight he brings to each score. He has conducted orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, St Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, BBC Symphony, Tampere Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic until 2013 and Composer/Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic until 2009.

Highlights of the 2024/25 season include the world premiere of MacMillan’s Concerto for Orchestra, co-commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia and Singapore Symphony. Other world premieres include MacMillan’s new euphonium concerto, Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock, by David Childs and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by MacMillan; and his Duet for Horn and Piano, performed at Middle Temple Hall. Elsewhere this season, MacMillan conducts the Hungarian National Philharmonic in his Christmas Oratorio, BBC Scottish Symphony in a celebration of Cumnock Tryst composers, Minnesota Orchestra, VocalEssence’s Festival of MacMillan, BBC Singers and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. This year’s Stockholm Philharmonic Composer Festival is dedicated to MacMillan, including performances of his Trombone Concerto, Concerto for Orchestra, Violin Concerto No. 2 and a variety of chamber works.

MacMillan founded music festival The Cumnock Tryst in October 2014, which takes place annually in his native Ayrshire. In 2024, the Festival celebrate their tenth anniversary and launch their International Summer-School for Composers, directed by MacMillan and open to young composers worldwide.

MacMillan has conducted many of his own works on disc for Chandos, BIS and BMG. A recent highlight is a series on Challenge Records, including MacMillan’s violin concerto A Deep but Dazzling Darkness and percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmanuel with Colin Currie and the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie. His recent release on Harmonia Mundi, conducting Britten Sinfonia in works including his Oboe Concerto, won the 2016 BBC Music Magazine Award. In 2017, The Sixteen’s recording of MacMillan’s Stabat Mater was nominated for a Gramophone Award and won the Diapason d'Or Choral Award.

MacMillan was awarded a CBE in 2004 and a Knighthood in 2015. He was appointed a Fellow of the Ivors Academy in 2024.

About the Series
The Public Lecture & Concert Series of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music welcomes the general public to St. Patrick's Seminary to hear from preeminent scholars about topics which have a profound impact on the Church and humanity, inviting them especially to consider the Church's wisdom on matters related to the worship of God, the spiritual life, beauty, and works of art.

We invite you to join us for these important and inspiring events.

About the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music
Founded in 2022, the mission of the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music is to draw souls to Jesus Christ through the beauty of sacred music and the liturgy.

The Institute offers a substantial program of accredited, graduate-level coursework and, beginning in the summer session of 2026 pending WSCUC approval, a Masters of Sacred Music and Post-baccalaureate certificates in Gregorian Chant and Sacred Choral Music. All of the Institute's coursework and public outreach are designed to help church musicians and clergy better to know and love the Church’s treasury of sacred music and her teachings on sacred music. Our goal is to equip students with the theological, philosophical, and historical knowledge, as well as the practical skills (singing, playing, conducting, composing, organizing, fundraising) necessary to build excellent sacred music programs in parishes and schools. We aim to help others revitalize the faith of Catholics and instill vitality in parish and school life through a vibrant sacred music program.

We are committed to a faithful and generous service of the Church. We cultivate fidelity, resiliency, a healthy sense of creativity, and selflessness within our student body and faculty as characteristics of our service as we labor together in the vineyard of the Lord to bring in a rich harvest.