Scottish composer and conductor. Artistic director of @TheCumnockTryst This account is run by @Boosey and JM. Personal tweets signed JM.
Joined November 2012
- Tweets 25,890
- Following 3
- Followers 9,161
- Likes 11,940
362 Photos and videos
🎖🎶 Congratulations to James MacMillan, appointed by the King to the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle.
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle represents the highest honour in Scotland, and has a complement of 16 Knights and Ladies (KT).
19
49
325
60,737
On Tuesday, @TheSixteen & @BrittenSinfonia gave the UK premiere of MacMillan’s ‘Angels Unawares’, setting texts by the late Robert Willis, former Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, and filled with angelic encounters and expressions of fear and hope.
Read more: bit.ly/4ujVWeZ
3
11
1,547
May 21
James MacMillan is announced as The Hallé's Featured Composer for 2026/27. The season opens with the world premiere of MacMillan's ‘Symphony No.6’, and his 'Seven Last Words from the Cross’ forms the heart of a new Easter Festival.
➡ Find out more here: bit.ly/3REeR6J
2
13
55
2,014
Apr 22
James MacMillan is a member of the jury for the 2026 Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition. Sky Arts give viewers a glimpse into the most prestigious conducting competition in the world with a new documentary titled ‘Making a Maestro’.
Find out more: donatellaflickcompetition.co…
3
11
2,537
Apr 14
Continuing his work as Professor of Theology, Imagination and the Arts @univofstandrews, James MacMillan contributes to a new video about the Master MLitt course in Sacred Music.
Find out more about the course in this new video: bit.ly/4mzgDSe
5
16
1,770
Mar 31
Did you hear James MacMillan’s ‘Angels Unawares’ on @BBCRadio3 on Sunday with @TheSixteen & @BrittenSinfonia? Recorded live at the Sistine Chapel, this work is filled with angelic encounters & expressions of fear & hope.
📻Listen here bbc.in/4sPi2X8
📷Harry Richards
3
16
39
3,189
Mar 23
On Sunday 22 March, @TheSixteen and @BrittenSinfonia performed the World Premiere of James MacMillan’s new choral work ‘Angels Unawares’ at The Sistine Chapel.
📺 Watch the concert on Catholic Sat here: bit.ly/47hJjbW
📷 Harry Richards
1
27
103
6,583
Mar 16
James MacMillan’s new work, ‘Angels Unawares’, will be premiered on Sunday 22 March in the Sistine Chapel by Harry Christophers and @TheSixteen, who will make music history by giving the first-ever world premiere of a concert work in this venue.
3
36
125
8,046
On Friday 6 March, James MacMillan received a Doctorate Honoris Causa at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and delivered a lecture in which he reflected on silence, faith, and the role of the composer in the modern age.
➡️Read more: bit.ly/4lfkgf8
2
26
121
6,061
🎶 HM King Charles III has approved the award of the 2025 King’s Gold Medal for Music to James MacMillan.
➡ Read more here: bit.ly/4aXQ9nN
13
51
309
17,716
22 Dec 2025
Thank you to everyone who joined James MacMillan, @BBCSO & Chorus, with soloists Rhian Lois & Roderick Williams at the Barbican last Friday for his ‘Christmas Oratorio’.
📻 You can tune in to the concert on Christmas Day on @BBCRadio3 at 8.05pm - bbc.in/48T0Po0
2
12
51
3,018
19 Dec 2025
🎶A snippet from yesterday’s rehearsal🎶
Ahead of tonight's performance of James MacMillan conducting his ‘Christmas Oratorio’ at the Barbican, London with soloists Rhian Lois and Roderick Williams, @BBCSO & Chorus
🎟️ Find out more and book tickets: bbc.in/3XVHTic
2
17
637
17 Dec 2025
James MacMillan’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ finds both strangeness and splendour in the most familiar of sacred stories.
🎼 Follow along with this @Boosey score video of Movement VI, Chorus 2 from the ‘Christmas Oratorio’: bit.ly/4rSudlI
1
10
857
15 Dec 2025
✨James MacMillan discusses the creation of his ‘Christmas Oratorio’
🎶 MacMillan conducts the work with @BBCSO, Rhian Lois and Roderick Williams on Friday 19 December @BarbicanCentre, London.
🎟️Tickets available here: bbc.in/3XVHTic
1
5
18
883
28 Nov 2025
In a new series for @BBCRadio3, James MacMillan explores how fellow composers like Haydn, Beethoven, and Hildegard von Bingen depict the first day of creation in music.
📻 Tune into the first episode this Saturday (29 November) at 1pm: bbc.in/44h4tFJ
1
12
551
8 Sep 2025
"I saw in my grandfather and my father certain characteristics that I saw in Jock Stein."
James MacMillan on @BBCRadio4 - Great Lives, looking at the life of Jock Stein, manager of Celtic FC when they won the 1967 European Cup.
📻 Listen on BBC Sounds: bbc.in/4geiIzv
4
1
4
627
29 Aug 2025
🤔🤔🎶
29 Aug 2025
🎶 We’ve made it to Friday – for our mystery score this week, you only get the coda of this iconic choral motet. Can you #NameThatPiece?
1
1
15
1,374
James MacMillan retweeted
16 Jul 2025
Wishing @jamesmacm a Happy Birthday!
To celebrate, why not take a look at a snapshot from a recent performance of MacMillan's "Concerto for Orchestra" by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra! Available now on @BBCiPlayer
Find out more here: bbc.in/4kF9Nb2
3
3
11
723
23 May 2025
🎶 James MacMillan conducts @BBCSingers this evening in a programme surveying a number of his choral compositions, juxtaposed with a selection of early works @NNFest.
➡ Find out more here: bbc.co.uk/events/e8m5q9
6
2
21
1,111
16 May 2025
James MacMillan pays tribute to his friend Christian Elliott, a key player in @TheCumnockTryst's community and education programmes, in The Times.
"We will miss Christian sorely but will remember him always.”
Read here: bit.ly/4miY0kR
3
546