Sir James Macmillan receives Ivors Academy Fellowship

The Ivors Academy has today announced composer Sir James MacMillan as the recipient of its Academy Fellowship, the highest honour bestowed by the Academy. Sir James receives the Fellowship in recognition of his ‘compositional excellence, immense impact and enduring legacy in the world of music creation’.

Sir James will receive the award at the Barbican tomorrow evening (15 March) after conducting the UK premiere of his work Fiat Lux with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, soprano Mary Bevan and baritone Roderick Williams. Joining a legacy including John Rutter CBE, John Adams, Sir Elton John and Dame Judith Weir CBE, Sir James becomes the 26th fellow of The Ivors Academy.

Ivors Academy chair Tom Gray said: ‘It is a great privilege to welcome Sir James MacMillan as the latest Fellow of The Ivors Academy. A prolific and globally-renowned composer, Sir James is a foremost proponent of the power of music to communicate and forge bonds. He is a titan of music, generous in his creativity and craft, and extremely worthy of this recognition from his peers.’

As well as creating over 200 works, Sir James founded his own music festival in his Scottish hometown of Cumnock in 2014, with the hope that the town would become a centre of excellence for composition around the world. The Cumnock Tryst has gone from strength to strength, launching its first summer school with composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir earlier this year and presenting its biggest community project yet in 2023. A Musical Celebration of the Coalfields brought 350 members of Cumnock’s local community together for a pair of performances showcasing new music written by community members and local composers.

As well as receiving an Ivor Novello Award in 2007 for his outstanding contribution to classical music and two British Composer Awards (now known as The Ivors Classical Awards), Sir James was awarded a CBE in 2004, and was knighted for his services to music in 2015.