If you don't know who this is, you can read more about him by clicking on his name and reading his bio on the Boosey & Hawkes page. Let me just say that he is the man, he's my composer-hero. He writes music in all classical genres, many of which, even his orchestral works and concerti, have sacred themes. He is a devout catholic. Many of his works are as touching to me as the Bach Passions or some of the most sincere Brahms works (ie. Requiem, Geistlisches Lied Op. 30, etc.) If you're interested in learning more about his music, check out "Seven Last Words from the Cross" (Layton recording), "A Child's Prayer" (The Sixteen recording), "A New Song" (The Sixteen recording), and "Sun-Dogs" (Netherlands Chamber Choir recording).
My life is particularly exciting right now because one of my other favorite living composers is Paweł Łukaszewski, who I am currently studying with.
Anyway, MacMillan was here this week performing with the Britten Sinfonia, one of the UK's 2 or 3 best chamber orchestras. MacMillan conducted and they played 3 works, a piece by living Estonian Composer Tuur, MacMillan's new Oboe Concerto, and Bethoven's 2nd symphony. It was a great concert and the audience clapped so much that they played an encore. Last week I emailed MacMillan to see if he had time to meet with me. They were passing through very quickly and didn't have any extra time, but he said I could come to their rehearsal. I did, and afterward, he invited me to his dressing room/green room and we talked for about 30 minutes. I was in heaven. Ok, I know that I'm a complete composer/music nerd. Most of you have no idea who this guy is, but I felt like I was meeting Paul McCartney or Jimmy Page. He was very nice and interested in what I'm doing. We talked a lot about sacred music and how it can still be very relevant in contemporary classical music. This is something that he excels at and yet is still taken very seriously by the best classical music organizations. Anyway, it was great!!!
After the concert, Paweł and I had this picture taken with him and were invited to a little cocktail party in one of the concert hall banquet rooms. We met several different British performers and arts organizers including the development director of one of the best choirs in the world, The Sixteen from the UK.
Today, we (Musica Sacra Choir) sang in a special Mass. The archbishop of Warsaw was there and it was very interesting to see how that changed the ritual of the meeting. The meeting was 30 minutes longer and they had many extra musical requirements with many of the bishops and priests singing as well.
Tonight I've been hanging out with some American, LDS friends who are here on a Fulbright, the Boudwin's. We played Dominion and had dinner. It's been nice hanging out with them. I don't usually mind being by myself, but on Sunday's, it's nice to not be alone.
I have a ton of projects going on right now. One of them is a Mass setting that Musica Sacra is going to perform on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week in April 2012. That Mass will be a special one for all of the priests in the area, some 300-400. It is a short setting for mixed chorus and organ; Kyrie (Lord Have Mercy), Agnus Dei (Lamb of God), Dextera Domini (The Right Hand of the Lord), and Pater Noster (Our Father). I set both the Latin and English versions of the text so that more choir can use them.
Ok, more next week!!!
You're right - we have no idea who these people are but are so excited for you that you have been able to meet (and work with) two of your composer-heroes. So very cool Doug. Glad you have friends there to play Dominion with , too, especially on a Sunday evening.
ReplyDeleteI should have mentioned before that we are playing the Polish version of the game. So it takes us a while to get started each time because we have to figure out what the cards say. But it's great fun!!
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