Live Christmas Oratorio Fri 24 – Sat 25 November

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, blended with influences from Far Eastern, Scandinavian and Eastern European music.

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, co-commissioned by the Philharmonia Orchestra, Edinburgh International Festival, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music and his Symphony No.5, written for The Sixteen, which was premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival.

MacMillan enjoys a flourishing career as conductor of his own music alongside a range of contemporary and standard repertoire, praised for the composer’s insight he brings to each score. He has conducted orchestras such as the National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Radio Symphony, Danish Radio Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and NHK Symphony Orchestra among others. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Kamer Filharmonie until 2013 and Composer/Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic until 2009. In January 2021 MacMillan conducted the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in the Dutch premiere of his Christmas Oratorio; later that year the work received its UK premiere with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Other recent highlights include a major feature at the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival as part of his 60th birthday year, with performances of works such as Quickening, A Scotch Bestiary, Woman of the Apocalypse and the world premiere of MacMillan’s Symphony No.5 ‘Le grand inconnu’.

Highlights of the 2022/23 season including conducting engagements with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and a performance of Handel’s Messiah with Edinburgh Royal Choral Union at Usher Hall. A number of new works receive world premieres, including his Violin Concerto No. 2 with Nicola Benedetti, a Piano Quintet, Ye Sacred Muses for The King’s Singers, Her tears fell with the dews at even with Pittsburgh Symphony, a choral work for Cincinnati Symphony and Fiat Lux with the Pacific Symphony.

MacMillan founded music festival The Cumnock Tryst in October 2014, which takes place annually in his native Ayrshire. MacMillan was awarded a CBE in 2004 and a Knighthood in 2015.

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.

The works of Sir James MacMillan are published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Praised for her ‘flawlessly produced soprano and her highly musical singing’ (Opera Today), Welsh soprano Rhian Lois is one of the most captivating and versatile singers currently performing on the British mainstage.

The 2022/23 season will see Lois make notable house debuts including as Gretel Hansel und Gretel for Hamburg State Opera and her role debut as Juliette Die Tote Stadt for English National Opera. On the concert platform, she will return to work with BBC National Orchestra of Wales on Faure Requiem and Stanford Te Deum and Elegiac Ode.

Recent highlights include her return to English National Opera as Janine/Ofwarren in their new production of Poul Ruders’ The Handmaid’s Tale, her house debut at Theatre Magdeburg as Angelica in Elena Langer Figaro Get’s a Divorce, Governess Turn of the Screw filmed with Opera Glassworks under the baton of John Wilson, Gretel Hansel and Gretel and Musetta La bohème with Scottish Opera, Oriana Amadigi for Garsington Opera, her role and house debut as Jerusha in the UK tour of Jess Cottis’ production of The Intelligence Park in the Linbury Theatre (Royal Opera House), Max Where The Wild Things Are for Shadwell Opera at Alexandra Palace, London and the Russian premier at the Mariinsky Theatre under the baton of Finnegan Downie Dear, her highly acclaimed company and role debut as Nanetta in Verdi Falstaff with Grange Festival, Valencienne The Merry Widow, Susanna Le Nozze di Figaro, Adele Die Fledermaus, Nerine Madea, Atalanta Xerxes and Governess The Turn of the Screw for English National Opera, house debut at Grand Théâtre de Genève as Angelika in the European premiere of Figaro gets a Divorce, Zerlina Don Giovanni for Santa Fe and Adele Die Fledermaus for Welsh National Opera.

On the concert stage, Lois has performed a recital for the International Opera Awards Foundation and at the International Enescu Festival. She has also performed at the Royal Festival Hall with Kings College Cambridge Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra and Aria ‘Ah! perfido‘ with BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jonathan Bloxham.

A graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Royal College of Music and National Opera Studio, her previous appearances at English National Opera also include Musetta La Boheme, Frasquita Carmen, Young Woman Between Worlds, First Niece Peter Grimes, Papagena The Magic Flute and Yvette The Passenger. Elsewhere she has sung Papagena Die Zauberflöte at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Pamina The Magic Flute for Nevill Holt and Eurydice in Telemann’s Orpheus with Classical Opera at the London Handel Festival.

On demand on the concert platform, she has performed Mozart Requiem and Handel Messiah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Simon Halsey, CBSO’s Stravinsky retrospective ‘Igor Fest’, Brahms Requiem at Milton Court, Barbican, Handel Messiah in Cambridge; Carmina Burana at the Brangwyn Hall; a concert of Mozart Masterpieces at the Royal Festival Hall; and a performance of Mendelssohn’s Incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Edward Gardner and CBSO recorded by Chandos.

Roderick Williams is one of this country’s most sought after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. In 2016 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the year award.

Opera engagements have included major roles at leading opera houses worldwide including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, Florida Grand Opera, the Bregenz Festival and Oper Köln.  He has been involved in many world premieres including, Lord Byron in the world premiere of Sally Beamish’s Monster, Alexander Knaifel’s Alice in Wonderland and Michel van der Aa’s After Life, the title role in Robert Saxton’s The Wandering Jew  with the BBC Symphony, which has been released on NMC to considerable critical acclaim.

Among Roderick Williams’ many performances of opera in concert are recent appearances with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Tippett’s The Knot Garden (Barbican) and Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong (Royal Festival Hall) and with the London Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding Billy Budd.  He has also sung the role of Eddie in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek for the BBC.  He has taken major roles in conductor Richard Hickox’s semi-staged performances of opera, including Britten’s Gloriana (Aldeburgh, 2003), Walton’s Troilus and Cressida and most of the Vaughan Williams operas.  Other concert performances include Henze, Strauss, Stravinsky and Wagner (Donner in Das Rheingold for ENO).

Roderick Williams has sung concert repertoire with all the BBC orchestras, and many other ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen, Le Concert Spirituel, and Bamberg Symphony Orchestra.  Recent successes include Britten’s War Requiem and Pilgrim in Vaughan Williams’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (semi-staged) with the Philharmonia, Jesus in The Last Supper  by Birtwistle with the London Sinfonietta in Milan and Turin, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in Toulouse, a European tour of Handel’s Messiah with RIAS Kammerchor, Tippett’s The Vision of St Augustine with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2005 BBC Proms, Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the world premiere of Birtwistle’s The Ring Dance of the Nazarene  with VARA Radio (repeated at the BBC Proms), performances of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen at La Scala, concerts with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in San Francisco, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a concert with Bach Collegium Japan at the Edinburgh Festival.

Recent and future operatic engagements include Oronte in Charpentier’s Medée, Toby Kramer in Van der Aa’s Sunken Garden and Sharpless / Madam Butterfly for English National Opera, the title role in Eugene Onegin for Garsington Opera, the title role in Billy Budd for Opera North, Van der Aa’s After Life at Melbourne State Theatre and at Opera de Lyon, and Van de Aa’s Upload for Netherlands Opera, the Bregenz Festival, Cologne Opera and at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, Captain Balstrode / Peter Grimes in a concert performance with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra,  Papageno and Ulisse / Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,  Toby Kramer for Dallas Opera, a concert performance of Ned Keene/Peter Grimes with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Van de Aa’s Upload for Netherlands Opera,  Oper Koln and the Bregenz Festival, and Christus / St John Passion in staged performances with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment both under Sir Simon Rattle.

Recent and future concert engagements include performances  with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra,  the Hallé,  Britten Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia, King’s College Cambridge, Goldsmiths Choral Union, Ex Cathedra, The Sixteen, The King’s Consort, New London Consort,  London Philharmonic Orchestra, Le Concert Spirituel, Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, Berlin Philharmonic, Rias Kammerchor, Orquesta Sinfonica de Euskadi, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Iceland Symphony, Danish National Radio Symphony, San Francisco Symphony,  Utah Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra,  Music of the Baroque Chicago, Bayerische Rundfunk, Bach Collegium Japan, Cappella Amsterdam, New York Philharmonic, Britten War Requiem with the Maggio Musicale and Semyon Bychkov in Florence, the UK premiere of Sally Beamish’s Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment as well as with Philharmonia Baroque.  In 2014 Roderick was the featured soloist at the BBC Last Night of the Proms and returned in 2021 for a performance of the St Matthew Passion and the world premiere of Matthew Kaner’s ‘Pearl’ in 2022.

He is an accomplished recital artist who can be heard regularly at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, LSO St Luke’s, the Perth Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw, Oxford Lieder Festival, London Song Festival, Howard Assembly Room, the Musikverein, Vienna and on Radio 3, where he has participated on Iain Burnside’s Voices programme.  Recent and future recitals include various performances at the Wigmore Hall including the three Schubert cycles, recitals for the BBC, the Concertgebouw and appearances at the Ludlow Song Festival, Oxford Lieder Festival, Three Choirs Festival, Edinburgh International Festival and at the Bath International Music Festival.

His numerous recordings include Vaughan Williams, Berkeley and Britten operas for Chandos, and an extensive repertoire of English song with pianist Iain Burnside for Naxos.  He recently recorded the three Schubert Cycles for Chandos as well as recordings of Stanford and Somervell for Somm.

He is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio. Recent commissions include a major work, World without End, for the Rias Kammerchor and BBC Singers as well as a commission to celebrate the centenary of the RAF.   He was Artistic Director of Leeds Lieder + in April 2016 and was Artist in Residence with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra between 2020-2022 as well as ‘singer-in-residence’ for Music in the Round in Sheffield, presenting concerts and leading on dynamic and innovative learning and participation projects that introduce amateur singers, young and old, to performing classical song repertoire.  From 2022/23 season he takes the position of Composer in Association of the BBC Singers. He was awarded an OBE for services to music in June 2017.

The RSNO Chorus performs in around six different programmes in up to twenty concerts across Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra each year. The RSNO Chorus has also had great success in recording with the Orchestra. Its recordings, amongst others, of Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky, conducted by Neeme Jӓrvi, and Holst’s The Planets, conducted by David Lloyd-Jones, have both attracted high critical acclaim.

In addition to its commitment to the Orchestra, the RSNO Chorus performs independently and has been invited to perform with orchestras in many parts of the world, establishing an international status and touring to Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Israel, Germany, Belfast, Australia, Trondheim and most recently, Amsterdam and Prague. In 2018 it performed Britten’s War Requiem with the RSNO at the BBC Proms.

The RSNO Chorus evolved from a choir formed in 1843 to sing the first full performance of Handel’s Messiah in Scotland. Today, it is one of the most successful choruses in the UK. In recent years, it has performed practically every work in the standard choral repertoire along with contemporary works by renowned composers, including John Adams, Magnus Lindberg, Howard Shore and James MacMillan.

Stephen Doughty is Chorus Director of the RSNO Chorus and enjoys a varied career as a freelance musician. Commencing his appointment of the RSNO Chorus in September 2022, he previously spent 13 years as the Chorus Master of Belfast Philharmonic Choir who, in addition to their regular performances with the Ulster Orchestra, have given a number of world premieres. He particularly enjoys working with amateur singers and is Musical Director of Edinburgh Bach Choir (since 2017) and has been Musical Director of the Garleton Singers since 1994. Over the years he has also run several, highly-successful ‘come & sing’ events raising funds for a number of charities.

Stephen held the position of Director of Music of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Edinburgh for 18 years, directing the 30-voice choir through the full range of sung services which also included large-scale, orchestrally-accompanied services during the Edinburgh Festival.

As a keyboard player, he plays harpsichord/organ continuo and orchestral piano with all the Scottish orchestras as well as the Ulster Orchestra and has given frequent organ recitals including several four-star recitals on the grand Mulholland Organ in the Ulster Hall, Belfast.

He has compiled a large portfolio of arrangements and orchestrations, particularly for young voices and has received commissions from Children’s Classic Concerts, Ulster Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Recent orchestrations include the premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Seek him that maketh the seven stars and a classical/folk crossover with award-winning band Dallahan marking the anniversary of the Battle of Loos. In addition, the BBC have commissioned a number of arrangements which have been performed at Proms in the Park and BBC Alba and his pieces feature on several recordings.

Finally, he is an Examiner for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.