Sir James MacMillan Announced as Composer in Residence with Dresden Philharmonie for 2025-26 Season
MacMillan with Stockholm Symphony Orchestra November 2024 c. Nadja Sjöström
Sir James MacMillan has been announced as Composer in Residence with the Dresden Philharmonie for its 2025-26 season.
Chief Conductor Donald Runnicles – a fellow Scot in his first season in this new role with the Orchestra – conducts MacMillan’s acclaimed Fourth Symphony, a work dedicated to Runnicles himself (22 Nov). MacMillan’s Why is this Night Different? (String Quartet No. 2), is performed by the Collenbusch Quartett the following day (23 Nov).
Saxophonist Jess Gillam joins the Orchestra for the Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Strings (17 & 18 Apr ‘26), and the wind players of the Dresden Philharmonie perform Untold for wind quintet (19 Apr). The composer himself conducts massed choirs of Dresden in a selection of his most powerful choral works, including Cantos Sagrados, alongside music by Arvo Pärt, Britten, and J.S. Bach (9 & 10 May).
Sir James said: “It’s an honour to be named Composer in Residence of the Dresden Philharmonie. I’ve been a friend and colleague of Sir Donald Runnicles for many years and he’s given some wonderful performances of my music, both in Scotland and elsewhere. I’m looking forward to hearing what he does with my music in his new role, and to working with the Orchestra and choirs myself.”
This announcement comes in a year of significant recognition and celebration for MacMillan. He was recently awarded a prestigious Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music. His festival, The Cumnock Tryst, also received an RPS Award earlier this month, adding to his earlier success of winning a Sky Arts Award last year.
Looking ahead, MacMillan’s international presence continues to grow. Later this month he embarks on a major residency in Minneapolis, USA. As part of this residency, he makes his conducting debut with the Minnesota Symphony in two concerts (28 & 29 Mar) featuring his own works Kiss on Wood for cello and orchestra, and Woman of the Apocalypse, alongside music by Wagner, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Rachmaninoff.
The US residency also includes a week-long festival of MacMillan’s choral music organised by Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence, one of the leading professional choirs in the United States. Among the highlights is the world premiere of Haec Dies, performed by massed choirs of seven area churches at the Cathedral of Saint Paul (4 Apr). VocalEssence, joined by the University of Minnesota Singers and Orchestra, presents an all-MacMillan program at the Ordway Concert Hall, featuring Seven Last Words from the Cross and the US premiere of The Sun Danced (6 Apr).
Back in the UK, Nicola Benedetti gives the London premiere of MacMillan’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda. Following its acclaimed Scottish premiere in 2022, the concerto is performed at the Barbican Centre in London (3 Apr) and the Bristol Beacon (5 Apr).
Furthering his connection to his Ayrshire roots, MacMillan presents the world premiere of his new euphonium concerto Where the Lugar meets the Glaisnock, performed by David Childs and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The deeply personal work, dedicated to Childs and in memory of MacMillan’s grandfather, George Loy, is premiered in Cardiff and Swansea (1 & 2 May). MacMillan himself conducts the concerts, which also feature works by Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Stravinsky.
The Edinburgh International Festival has also announced that The King’s Singers and percussionist Colin Currie open its Chamber Music series at the Queen’s Hall with a specially-commissioned new work by MacMillan for marimba and vocal ensemble, which sets the text of a Scottish children’s rhyme (2 Aug).