Page 207 - FINAL_The Sixteen Coverage Book 40th Anniversary Year

20 August 2019

James MacMillan hits the heights with

heavenly music – Angus Robertson

James MacMillan was only five or six years old when he

experienced his first “electrical” musical experience at St

Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh.

By ANGUS ROBERTSON

Sir James MacMillan's Fifth Symphony was premiered at the Festival on
Saturday

This weekend, 55 years on, Scotland’s greatest contemporary

composer sat in pride of place at a packed Mass celebrating the

Edinburgh Festival, as the world renowned choir The Sixteen

performed his work.

There was standing room only in the cathedral as Edinburgh’s clerical,

civic and diplomatic communities processed down the nave at the

start of the Mass.

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