Stuart MacRae

Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorley MacLean) – one of the greatest European poets of the 20th century – was born #OTD, 26 Oct A 🎂🧵 Watch “Sorley MacLean’s Island” via @natlibscot.bsky.social – Sorley MacLean in conversation with fellow writer Iain Crichton Smith #poetry movingimage.nls.uk/film/3141

Bloody - and I mean this very sincerely - hell.

I’m sorry to have to be the bad guy here but we need to recognize that we live in a compressed air thrusters world now. If you’re not finding ways to teach the critical use of compressed air thrusters in your classroom, you’re setting your students up to fail when you could be setting them up to fly

Naomi Klein Is Spot On.......

Only a few weeks until Beth Taylor and Hamish Brown premiere the result of the @royalphilsoc.bsky.social Thea Musgrave grant, "MEDUSA" at Edinburgh International Festival, Queen's Hall, 11th August. With a beautiful specially commissioned text by @jlwpoetry.bsky.social

I just noticed that I have quite a lot more followers here than I thought! Hello! I should probably post more here! So here's an aerial view of the small wildflower patch I planted in the garden this year.

Applications for RPS Thea Musgrave Composition Grants are open until 7 July. We offer funding for established composers writing a new work for soloist, duo or chamber ensemble, including to devote to focused workshop and rehearsal time with performers. royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/composers/rp...

Am I overusing the string-crossing texture? Yes Do I care? No

Sums it up - it was great.

I wish HMRC would stop asking me every day if I'm ready for Making Tax Digital. I'm not, and I don't have to be because classical composers don't earn that much. Maybe next year when the threshold comes down. Then again, maybe not.

Looking forward to RBO Siegfried in the cinema tomorrow evening. Hope there's not too much popcorn munching!

'@stuartmacrae.bsky.social's song cycle 'Medusa', written for mezzo soprano Beth Taylor and supported by the RPS Thea Musgrave Fund, will be performed for the first time at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh as part of @edintfest.bsky.social on 11 August: royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/whats_on/stu...

A decade since I saw it. Well overdue a revival. www.theartsdesk.com/opera/devil-...

Still probably my favourite of my operas.

Without wanting to come over all 70s-sitcom-grumpy-husband, why does caramel always have to be so bloody salty these days? Wasn't it better when it was sweet?

You know something I really, really hate? Email apps trying to write replies for me, and 'autocorrecting' as I type (it's usually wrong).

No better feeling than when you think you have to go out to a party then discover it's not for another week.

Pavarotti is on the TV and I just had a pang of concern that the young people might not have heard of Pavarotti. They should be told.

Thank you @francisrouthtrust.bsky.social for supporting our new project on John Rae, which will include new works by @stuartmacrae.bsky.social and Ailie Robertson, as well as 2 Nordic composers. Morenews coming very soon!

I love Max's music but R3 are playing this piece waaaay too much recently.

If you're not smiling/crying/both by the end of this I don't know what to tell you (and if you haven't seen or heard this before - you're welcome!) youtu.be/Ypd1YGW5Huw?...

The more I hear from Peter Kyle, the less I want to. First in the pockets of the AI industry (and hang the arts and creative industries), now undermining the value of higher education with materialistic bromides about entrepreneurship and business.

I'm finding it really baffling that so much of the news is about the death of someone in the US I had literally never heard of until today. The more I hear about him, the less I want to.

Berg's harmony (and particularly in Lulu) makes me scrunch up my face in a way no other music can - the precise and logical beauty of his unresolving voice-leading, his exquisite voicing and the drama of his timing are almost too much to bear - in the best possible way.

Previously, when I said 'hey google' then 'navigate home', my phone would instantly bring up the best route and start it. Now an AI assistant tells me it has found a route & asks if I want to ask anything else, before opening maps, adding 15 secs to the process. Is this meant to be an improvement?

Composing is so much easier and more satisfying than 'being a composer' 🤔

As someone who works in the arts (is that the same as an arts professional?🤔) this article seems to be a load of gobbledygook. No idea what they are trying to say.

The UK’s “notoriously fragmented” creative industries sector could be “rapidly eroded” unless it rethinks its approach to public funding, according to a new report.

Watching Lost for the 1st time - very impressed with Michael Giacchino's dark, eerie and mostly acoustic score, and the plotting is gripping. A few flaws though - some dodgy acting and lighting that wouldn't pass muster these days.

This looks like a very good opportunity for composers to work with professional harpists www.poppyharp.com/composers-pr...

I'm hearing reports that the Whitehouse Signal group's encryption was compromised by an incorrectly transposed hexachordal inversion - is this true?

If this piece were the overture to an opera, what would you expect the opera to be about? 🤔 (Performed by Dunedin Consort cond. John Butt, BBC Proms 2019) www.youtube.com/watch?v=efV4...

Worrying times across the whole of the arts and creative sector. The story of the sudden drying up of work is also very widespread among composers - a few manage to thrive in such times, giving the illusion of a vibrant sector, but it's very far from the truth.

If this piece were the overture to an opera, what would you expect the opera to be about? 🤔 (Performed by Dunedin Consort cond. John Butt, BBC Proms 2019) www.youtube.com/watch?v=efV4...

Hi from gorgeous sunny Amsterdam! Tonight at Hear And Now Festival I’ll be singing 2 works w strings from my @stuartmacrae.bsky.social album + Andriessen’s ‘Een Lied van der Zee’ for solo voice. Vasks, Crumb + Strauss complete the gig. 8pm Vondelkerk www.ticketkantoor.nl/shop/HearAnd...

#SLAVAUKRAINE

Monday Motivation

Another (part-time) post in Music at @uofglasgow.bsky.social. Note that this is in Performance. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer...

This photo made me wonder what sort of height Sibelius was, so I looked it up and he was exactly the same height as me (1.77m). For some reason I find this satisfying.

I've been writing for voice without words a fair bit recently, which brings out particular ways of working - things are either more 'instrumental' or, conversely, rather simple, slow and restrained. But now I have written a few words to set, and much greater energy has come into the vocal lines...⚡

I would really love to be going to see Festen at Covent Garden, but the cost of travel to London and staying there is prohibitive this time. Wish I'd booked sooner - but only a couple of years ago, what now costs £400 would have been about £200 (including opera ticket).

Superb

Loads of trailers and short docs about the opera here, courtesy of Music Theatre Wales and Scottish Opera: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVQ6...

Stevenson’s “The Bottle Imp” has inspired a number of interesting spinoffs, from the 2016 opera THE DEVIL INSIDE, by @stuartmacrae.bsky.social & @louisewelsh00.bsky.social … 3/8 www.theguardian.com/music/2016/j...