James MacMillan

English setting of Psalm 127 for SSATB a cappella. Commissioned by the Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury to mark the 400th anniversary of Hatfield House. First performed there on 11 September 2011...

Setting of the traditional vesper hymn ('Hail, O Star of the ocean'), commissioned by Christopher Gray and the Choir of Truro Cathedral. The texture is homophonic and sustained, with much use of pedal...

Heart-felt setting for SATB a cappella of words of Our Lady of Guadalupe to St Juan Diego, December 1531 (English), with bass 'cantus firmus' from a 14th Century Marian antiphon (Latin): 'Listen, put...

A significant addition to the composer's repertory of Latin motets, this is a setting of an antiphon on the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was commissioned in 2012 by Sacred...

Setting for double SATB chorus a cappella of an anonymous medieval text about Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians.

This setting of a verse from Psalm 43 ('Send out your light and your truth; these themselves led me forth, and they brought me to your holy mountain and to your holy place') with a Gloria Patri was co...

This piece was commissioned by Merton College, Oxford for the Merton Choirbook, a collection of choral music composed to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the college in 2014. It is a setting of some...

This setting of a war poem by Charles Hamilton Sorleys was composed for Genesis Sixteen and performed at the 2015 Cumnock Tryst, James MacMillan's own music festival in Ayrshire, Scotland, to commemor...

Vertonung für gemischten Chor a cappella eines ewigen Dauerbrenners unter den religiösen Texten (Joh 14,15-17; King-James-Bibel). Das Werk wurde von The Elders (einem Zusammenschluss ehemaliger Staats...

Sumptuous a cappella setting of a hymn to the Virgin Mary attributed to Poliziano (15th century). It was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, whose first perf...

Commissioned for Selwyn College, Cambridge. This is MacMillan's second setting of the sublime poem by John Donne (1572-1631), 'Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of he...

Commissioned by the Cathedral Organists' Association [UK] in celebration of its centenary, and first performed at the Association's annual meeting in York Minster in May 2019. Text: Magnificat and Nun...

Composed in 2021 to commission for the Choir of Westminster Abbey and dedicated to Westminster Abbey Choir School. This is MacMillan's fourth mass setting for exclusively choral forces, following the...

This work was composed in 2020 and was commissioned by the Lord Burghley 500 Foundation for a Service of Thanksgiving in Westminster Abbey to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of William Ce...

Short motet commissioned by St Dominic’s Sixth Form College, Harrow-on-the-Hill, UK, to celebrate its 40th anniversary. MacMillan chose a text which is entirely appropriate to young people about to be...

A powerful setting for 8-part choir of three of the Good Friday responses at matins: 'Tenebrae factae sunt', 'Tradiderunt me' and 'Iesum tradidit impius'. Commissioned by Cappella Nova (director: Alan...

This ideal introduction to MacMillan's secular choral music is rich in Scottish flavour, appropriate to its Robert Burns text. Characteristic vocal elements are the ornamental inflections drawn from S...

This short meditative motet was commissioned for the dedication service of the Millennium window by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi in the Resurrection Chapel of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Edinburgh. It is i...

This beautiful unaccompanied work adapts the translated text of a Gaelic elegy by the 19th century poet Evan Maccoll. The words ‘She has gone' dominate the piece and underline its sense of desol...

This motet was commissioned by the Yale Glee Club with a text from the Gospel according to St John, chapter 8:10-11 where Jesus tells the woman taken in adultery to go and sin no more. This 6-minute a...

Scored for chorus, children's choir, organ and chamber orchestra, St Luke Passion adopts a pared-back focus on choral voices over its 75-minute span. Seeking a more spiritual, inward approach to match...

This is a modern English language setting incorporating traditional text options, and it is a versatile edition suited for both liturgical and concert use. The Doxology and Great Amen may be performed...

Setting of four poems by Michael Symmons Roberts for male voices a cappella, commissioned by the King's Singers and first performed by them in April 2014.MacMillan has been repeatedly drawn to Symmons...

A rapt meditation on this sacramental medieval poem, composed to mark the 400th anniversary of the of St John Ogilvie at Glasgow Cross in 1615 in a performance by pupils from six local junior schools....

Setting of a prayer by Mother Cornelia Connelly, foundress of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus in 1846 and latterly Mayfield School. In 1863 she was inspired to transform the ruins of the Old Palac...