James MacMillan: reviews of Angels Unawares in Sistine Chapel
Angels Unawares, the new oratorio by James MacMillan evoking a sequence of divine encounters, became the first concert work to be premiered in the Sistine Chapel in March. Its UK premiere follows on 2 June at Cadogan Hall in London with the Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia conducted by Harry Christophers.
“Music of astonishing power” wrote The Scotsman reviewing the world premiere of James MacMillan’s new oratorio, Angels Unawares, performed amidst the artistic and spiritual splendour of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican on 22 March. A historic event, the performance was the first-ever premiere of a concert work in the Sistine Chapel, captured on film for Vatican News and broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Commissioned by the Genesis Foundation, Angels Unawares was premiered by The Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia conducted by Harry Christophers, with soprano soloist Elizabeth Watts and tenor Matthew McKinney. The 65-minute score receives its UK premiere on 2 June at Cadogan Hall in London with the same forces. The Sixteen has championed MacMillan’s music for over 20 years, giving first performances of O bone Jesu, Miserere, Symphony No.5: ‘Le grand Inconnu’ and Stabat mater followed by a performance in the Sistine Chapel in 2018.
Filled with angelic encounters and expressions of fear and hope, the new work sets poetry by the late Robert Willis, former Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, who died in 2024. Dedicated to his memory, Angels Unawares is an appeal to treat strangers with dignity and compassion, to embrace kindness as a spiritual discipline. James MacMillan describes how the idea of angels “runs like a significant theme throughout the Judeo-Christian legacy. The title comes from a passage from The Epistle to the Hebrews thought to have been written by St Paul: ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares’.”
“…a poetic meditation on angels: 12 in all, who appear in the Old and New Testaments, as messengers, guides, intercessors… MacMillan has set Willis’s poems – which include Jacob and the Ladder Reaching into Heaven, The Song of Tobias, Gabriel’s Message and more – with a mix of moods ranging from the ecstatic to the ethereal to the ferocious… This is a substantial and exciting work.”
The Observer
> Read The Observer's full account of the premiere
“…inspired by the angelic encounters in the Bible, MacMillan’s new work features some of his most dramatic writing to date… it seems to draw on everything from the highly decorated vocal melisma of some of his earliest music to the rawer, more abstract vocal sounds of his more recent Symphony No. 5, Le grand Inconnu. Likewise, in style it ranges from exquisite sweetness to brutal energy to a kind of arid emptiness that feels familiar from his Seven Last Words from the Cross. What’s remarkable, though, is how deftly and meaningfully MacMillan deploys his broad vocabulary in conveying the themes and ideas of Angels Unawares, whether they’re theological questions or profoundly human emotions.”
The Scotsman
James MacMillan’s season-long composer residency with the Dresden Philharmonic concludes with the Saxophone Concerto with Jess Gillam as soloist on 17 April and a choral-focused programme with the orchestrated version of Cantos Sagrados on 9 May, conducted by the composer. Other Spring highlights include Mark Elder conducting the Norwegian premiere of Timotheus, Bacchus and Cecilia with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus and Edvard Grieg Kor on 30 April.
> Further information on Work: Angels Unawares
Photo: Harry Christophers with James MacMillan (credit Harry Richards)