Stuart MacRae composer
Composer of contemporary opera, orchestral, chamber and vocal music
new album - now available
A collection of my chamber music from the last 25 years
***** The Scotsman (Ken Walton):
"...emotive insight and confident linguistic maturity...from the gestural simplicity of Tol-Pedn to the effervescent wonderment of Ursa Minor."
***** BBC Music Magazine (Michael Beek):
"Stuart MacRae at his most searching...a keen dramatic sense – and a richly imaginative scoring which extends throughout, embracing tonality and microtones, swirling dissonance and static repose."
Gramophone (Guy Rickards):
"intelligently constructed, sonically well-imagined music...MacRae's setting is desolate, and powerfully so."
I'm privileged to share this fantastic recording by Hebrides Ensemble of my chamber music, with music (much of it recorded for the first time) for a variety of instrumental and vocal combinations.
Click on the pic for listening options, and click here to link to much more information about the piece, including Tim Rutherford-Johnson's liner notes, production images by Will Coates-Gibson, and reviews. Supported by Creative Scotland.
Variation on caprice 24
Variation on Caprice 24 out on on Fenella Humphreys' new album
Fenella Humphreys' beautiful album of Caprices includes a wealth of new music , including a short 'Variation on Caprice 24' I wrote for her. Click the pic to link to the album and for much more...
...and buy the score here
Latest news
News
Performances coming up
Performances coming up
Anthropocene will receive a new production at Bielefeld Opera in 2023, with musical direction by Gregor Rot. The German premiere production opens on 15the April 2023 (see performances column for details).
NEW ALBUM OUT!
I'm very excited that on 25th March 2022, Delphian Records released Hebrides Ensemble's portrait album of my chamber music. This will feature music spanning the last 25 years, including a specially-commissioned new piece, Ursa Minor.
In addition, also on 25th March, Rubicon released Fenella Humphreys' album Caprices, with new works from a huge spectrum of living composers, including my piece Variation on Caprice 24.
I'm honoured to have been given the opportunity to be part of the first cohort of 10 composers in Sound and Music's new 'Music Patron' platform. This is a brand new way of supporting the work of composers directly with a regular donation. Find out more, and support me here.
Improvisations (I): Delicacy, incarnadine and prismatic now available to buy and listen to on Bandcamp.com (some also available to stream or purchase on my website).
Anthropocene has WON the Large Scale New Work category
(sponsored by PRS for Music) in the Scottish Awards for New Music
Anthropocene was shortlisted in the World Premiere category in the International Opera Awards
ANTHROPOCENE
Anthropocene premieres on Operavision.eu
From 17th May until 16th November 2019
Scottish Opera premiered the latest opera by Stuart MacRae and Louise Welsh in January 2019. Set on a ship in an Arctic fjord, the opera is a mystery-thriller directed by Matthew Richardson with designs by Samal Blak.
'Icily resonant tale with a remorseless grip...' ★★★★
'Gripping music theatre.' ★★★★ The Times
https://www.scottishopera.org.uk/shows/anthropocene/
CANCELLED due to Covid-19:
Sadly the new production of Anthropocene at Salzburger Landestheater scheduled for the 19/20 and 20/21 season, directed by Agnessa Nefjodov and conducted by Leslie Suganandarajah, has had to be postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Hopefully it will be rescheduled in 2024.
Performances coming up
Performances coming up
Performances coming up
Dark Liquid (WP)
synapse (WP)
Huw Morgan (piano)
St. Stephen's Church, Bristol
25 June, 11am
Free admission
Variation on Caprice 24
Fenella Humphreys (violin)
Up Close and Musical
Fidelio Orchestra Cafe, London
25 June, 3.30pm
Anthropocene (excerpt)
Bielefeld Opera
Theater Bielefeld, Rudolf-Oetker-Halle
Anthropocene (German Premiere)
Bielefeld Opera
Stadttheater Bielefeld
15 / 25 / 30 April 2023
5 / 19 May 2023
21 June 2023
Past performances
Performances coming up
Past performances
The Lif of this world
Jessica Summers (soprano)
Aylesbury Lunchtime Music, St Mary’s Church
23 June, 12.45pm
elided compressed (WP) for voice and electronics
Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano)
Britten Studio, Snape Maltings
8 June 2022, 10pm Details and tickets
The Lif of this World
Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano) and Brett Dean (viola)
St. Michael and All Angels, Spennithorne
Swaledale Festival
11 June 2022, 4pm
Earth ever green the ways (WP of soprano version)
Stephanie Lamprea (soprano)
Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds 22 March 2022 Artefact Stirchley, Birmingham 23 March 2022 Unit 44, Dublin 25 March 2022
Sonata for guitar "Macbeth" (WP)
Sasha Savaloni (guitar)
Holy Sepulchre London
18th March 2022, 1.10pm
Commission supported by RVW Trust and Hope Scott Trust
Earth ever green the ways (WP)
Lauren Macleod (mezzo-soprano)
David Josefowitz Recital Hall
Royal Academy of Music
15 November 2021
Ultima Thule (WP)
Octuble (tuba octet)
Royal Birmingham Conservatoire
26 November 2021
the ebb (WP)
Sequoia
Govan & Linthouse Parish Church, Glasgow
7 November 2021, 3.30pm
University of Glasgow Concert Hall 11 November Music at St. Cyprian's, Lenzie 13 November Cowal Music Club, Dunoon 6 February 2022
Isle of Coll Music Group, An Cridhe 19 March 2022
Blessed are the Meek (WP)Rebecca Tavener (soprano) and Alan Tavener (organ)St. Columbkille's Church Rutherglen
1 November 2021
The Solemnity of All Saints, Mass 7pm https://www.stcolumbkille.org.uk/all-saints-and-all-souls-days/
The Brocken Spectre
Lapland Chamber Orchestra, cond. John Storgårds
Korundi, Rovaniemi, Finland
7 & 8 October 2021
Birth-Rebirth
Trinity Orchestra (cond. John Andrews)
St. Edmund's Church, Northwood
2 October 2021
Random acts of kindness V
Huw Morgan (organ)
St Stephen's Church, Bristol
11th September 2021
Variation on Caprice 24
Fenella Humphreys (violin)
Three Choirs Festival
29th July 2021, 10pm
Further performances:
Presteigne Festival
26 & 28 August 2021
The Lif of this World
Lotte Betts-Dean (mezzo-soprano)
16th June 2021, 8pm
Further performances (with Michael Butten, guitar):Land Sea & Sky (filmed concerts)
from 18th June 2021
Strathallan Suite (WP)
Strathallan School Music Scholars
online 18th June 2021
Variation on Caprice 24
Fenella Humphreys (violin)
4.5-hour loop performance
MOBOFCROWS
Sarah Watts (contrabass clarinet)
Sound Festival, Aberdeen
24th October 2020, 8pm
draw the veil (WP)
Rolf Hind (piano)
King's Place, London
7th October 2020, 6.30pm
Variation on Caprice 24 (WP)
Fenella Humphreys (violin)
Fidelio Orchestra Cafe
5th March 2020 7.00pm
https://fideliorchestra.art/whats-on/fenella-humphreys-and-louise-mcmonagie
About Stuart
Biography
Born in Inverness in 1976, Stuart MacRae has established himself as one of the most distinctive of contemporary composers, writing music of elemental power and emotional subtlety. His works include a Violin Concerto (2001), Hamartia for cello and ensemble (2004), and Gaudete for soprano and orchestra (2008), all of which have been performed at the BBC Proms. Works for the stage include the dance-opera Echo and Narcissus (2007) and the opera Ghost Patrol (2012), a collaboration with writer Louise Welsh for Scottish Opera and Music Theatre Wales, which won the 2013 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Opera and was shortlisted for an Olivier Award.
Stuart’s music has been performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Edinburgh International Festival, and by ensembles including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, BCMG and London Sinfonietta, as well as numerous orchestras. Stuart was Composer in Association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra from 1999 to 2003. He was resident composer at the Spannungen Kammermusikfest in Heimbach, Germany in 2003, and Edinburgh Festival Creative Fellow at the University of Edinburgh from 2005 to 2006. From 2006 to 2007 he was a resident composer at Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia in Bamberg, Germany.
Recent projects include the opera The Devil Inside, written for Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera, Cantata, for the Choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, and a series of works based on the Prometheus myth for the Lammermuir Festival.
Contact
Represented worldwide by Rayfield Allied
Contact ralph.blackbourn@rayfieldallied.com
Stuart MacRae's page at Novello & Co Ltd. (works up to 2012)
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/short-bio/974
Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/stuca
Photo credits: Loudon MacRae Photography (photos of Stuart)
Bill Cooper (production photo of Ben McAteer, Steven Page and Rachel Kelly in The Devil Inside)
