What's on

James MacMillan, modern Scottish composer, has been announced as the St. Petersburg Philharmonia’s composer-in residence for the 2021/2022 season. His compositions’ cycle will include three concerts, and the final program of the cycle will be conducted in February by the composer himself. The project is part of the international UK-Russia Creative Bridge 2021-2022 program, supported by the Department of Culture and Education of the British Embassy in Moscow.

The cycle opens on November 27: the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Titov will perform the Russian premieres of two works by MacMillan: orchestral fantasy Britannia (1994) and Larghetto (2009, orchestrated in 2017).

The program also includes masterpieces of Russian music - Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's "Prince Igor" and Prokofiev's cantata "Alexander Nevsky", soloist - Olesya Petrova (mezzo-soprano). The St. Petersburg Conservatoire Choir takes part in the concert.

James MacMillan is one of the most successful contemporary Scottish composers. He achieved widespread fame in 1990 with the successful premiere of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie in BBC Proms, Britain's largest festival. His Concerto for percussion and orchestra Veni, Veni, Emmanuel (1992) has been performed worldwide over five hundred times, in particular, by such prominent ensembles as the London Symphony Orchestra, the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra. The composer's other major works include cantata Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993), Quickening (1998) for soloists, children’s choir, mixed choir and orchestra, operas Inés de Castro (2001) and The Sacrifice (2005-2006), St John Passion (2007), St Luke Passion (2013), Symphony No. 5: "Le grand Inconnu" (2018).

James MacMillan has been a key figure in such major events and venues as Edinburgh International Festival (1993, 2019), Southbank Centre (1997), BBC Composer of the Week at the Barbican (2005), and the Grafenegg Festival (2012). James MacMillan's music interpreters include soloists Evelyn Glennie, Colin Currie, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Vadim Repin, conductors Leonard Slatkin, Sir Andrew Davis, Marin Alsop, Donald Runnicles, and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. His recordings have been released by such labels as BMG/RCA Red Seal, BIS, Chandos, Naxos, Hyperion, Coro, Linn and Challenge Classics.