Collegium Institute is proud to cosponsor “Composing Sacred Music in the 21st Century,” a lecture by Sir James MacMillan and part of The Catholic Sacred Music Project: A Choral Festival for Young Professional and Aspiring Church Musicians. This festival, a professional musical development opportunity and initiative dedicated to cultivating great music for the Catholic liturgy, is sponsored by St. John the Baptist Parish in Allentown, New Jersey, in association with Mater Ecclesiae Parish in Berlin, New Jersey. Click here to read more about the festival.
Sir James MacMillan is one of today's most successful 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 recognized 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, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and, and his Symphony No.5, written for The Sixteen, which was premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival.
MacMillan has directed many of his own works on disc for Chandos, BIS and BMG, most recently 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 included his Oboe Concerto and 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.
Date: Wednesday, August 11, 2021
Time: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM ET
Location: Zoom
Registration: Only registered festival attendees may attend this lecture in person. Registration for the festival is closed, but Collegium Institute will be live-streaming and recording the Sir James MacMillan lecture so those who aren’t attending the festival can watch it remotely. To receive the Zoom details for the live stream, please click the button on the left.
This lecture was recorded. To watch the video on our YouTube channel, click the button on the right.
The liturgies in the festival, including daily Mass and Compline and the Solemn High Mass (Extraordinary Form) at 3:30pm on Sunday, August 15, are free and open to the public. No registration is necessary to attend the Mass. You can view the full schedule here.