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 one of Stuart’s patrons 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 | Stuart MacRae (Delphian Records)

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Recent updates from Stuart

14 November 2024

🔒 A compositional ‘Ming vase strategy’

Dear Patrons, I’m lucky to have found many different ways of approaching composition, depending on the circumstanc...

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1 comment
3 October 2024

🔒 Writing a new choral piece

Dear Patrons, A couple of days ago I was leafing through one of the many books of manuscript paper which

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1 comment
17 June 2024

🔒 Anthropocene in Salzburg and Gramophone article

Hello patrons, I had a wonderful time in Salzburg recently, when I attended the last couple of rehearsals and the

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16 May 2024

🔒 Some inspirations?

Part of what you might call my inspiration involves going on regular walks in the local area, and I’m very luck...

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5 February 2024

🔒 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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11 January 2024

🔒 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
29 December 2023

🔒 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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27 July 2023

🔒 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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1 comment
19 April 2023

🔒 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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15 April 2023

🔒 Anthropocene in Bielefeld – quick update

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

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1 comment
23 February 2023

🔒 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
13 January 2023

🔒 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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9 December 2022

🔒 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...

This update is only available to Stuart's patrons. Already support Stuart? Login

29 October 2022

🔒 Preparation for recording session

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

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26 October 2022

🔒 Wodwo – single release tomorrow!

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

This update is only available to Stuart's patrons. Already support Stuart? Login

16 September 2022

🔒 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
10 August 2022

🔒 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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1 comment
13 July 2022

🔒 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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23 June 2022

🔒 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
12 June 2022

🔒 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
6 May 2022

🔒 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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2 comments
6 May 2022

🔒 Thank you!

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3 May 2022

🔒 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’...

This update is only available to Stuart's patrons. Already support Stuart? Login

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