Stuart MacRae

“A great deal of my music deals with subjects to do with the natural world and humans’ relationship to it.”

Stuart MacRae is an award-winning Scottish composer. His work explores themes of humanity in/as nature, the use of language through the singing voice, and mythology.

His music brings emotion to the fore, and spans a wide variety of genres, including opera, instrumental, vocal and electroacoustic music.

What does being Stuart’s patron look like?

“I’ve really enjoyed engaging with my patrons over the last year and a half, sometimes entering into some fascinating discussions about the ideas that go into my work”

Patrons supporting Stuart will receive fairly regular updates about his recent and future work, videos sharing a behind-the-scenes look into his process, as well as sneak previews, exclusive access to new works and works-in-progress.

Supporting a composer on Music Patron gives you a first-hand perspective on the many elements within the creative process and an understanding of an authentic journey of a composer. You can find out more about what it’s like to be a patron here 

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.

Listen Ursa Minor | Delphian Records

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Recent updates from Stuart

🔒 Updates and some radio features

Dear Patrons, January was a pretty productive month: after finishing my Robert Louis Stevenson song cycle for Glen Cunni...

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🔒 Updates – Coming up in 2024

Hello all, Happy New Year! Before the year gets into full swing, I though now might be a good time

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4 comments

🔒 Video – Winter Music for the dark days

Hello patrons, here’s a new harmonium performance with a wee story behind it…

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🔒 Recent activity / album release!

Here’s an update on recent and forthcoming activities, and exciting news about my new album coming out! You can li...

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🔒 Sneak peek at album!

Hello, Just back from a successful German premiere of Anthropocene (or ‘Die Frau aus dem Eis’ as the show wa...

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🔒 Anthropocene in Bielefeld – quick update

Hello! A short video update about what I’m doing right now… Stuart

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1 comment

🔒 Writing by hand – a soundscape

Hello all, I wanted to share a new kind of video content with you today. Last week I was writing

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2 comments

🔒 What’s in a name? Part 2

A slightly different format to the last update (text and audio rather than video), but on a similar theme – nam...

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🔒 The Music Patron Q&A

A series of interviews with our Music Patron composers talking about their musical inspirations and what life as a co...

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🔒 What’s in a name? Part 1

Hello, Here’s the first in a series of videos talking about how the music relates to the title in some

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1 comment

🔒 Preparation for recording session

A quick video update about some of the preparations for my upcoming recording…

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🔒 Wodwo – single release tomorrow!

Hello! Just a quick note to say that wodwo, the first single from my upcoming album terra firma, will be

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🔒 New work update

Hello Patrons, A little video update about some of my recent work (sorry, I forgot to put it in landscape

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2 comments

🔒 A new opera?

I’ve been thinking about some ideas for a new opera I want to write, and thought I’d share a few

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🔒 Sneak preview – Ultima Thule

I’ve just received a recording made by the brass department of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of a short pi...

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🔒 My garden in June – exclusive preview

Hello! I’ve been gradually compiling new improvisations for an album that I’ll hopefully be releasing later ...

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6 comments

🔒 Work in progress – incarnadine (Patron only)

I’m making a new live performance version of incarnadine – become a patron to find out more abo...

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2 comments

🔒 Thule – music with audio commentary

Here’s an audio commentary on Thule, a piece I made last year:  You can listen to the track without commentary

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🔒 Thank you!

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🔒 Teaser for a future album track – exclusive ...

Here’s something that came out of a long working session a few days ago. It’s work in progress, but I’...

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