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Scott Macmillan, born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1955, is recognized as one of Canada's leading musicians, and as playing an integral role in widening the audience for the music of Atlantic Canada both nationally and internationally. Equally at home on the podium, in the studio or behind a guitar, Mr. Macmillan is in great demand as a music director, performer/conductor, arranger and producer. He completed a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Dalhousie University, where he also took courses in music, and continued his musical training at Humber College in Toronto. During his school years he worked as a guitar player and subsequently spent five years touring as part of Rita MacNeil's band. His Scott Macmillan Sextet was a winner in the Atlantic region for his original compositions in the Alcan Montreal Jazz Festival in 1987.
Mr. Macmillan's interest in composing and conducting deepened following master classes with Victor Yampolsky and participation in a CBC National Arrangers Workshop with Eric Knight and Paul Hoffert. His expertise in and understanding of regional folk and Celtic music led him to compose in this idiom, initially for his celtic-crossover group The Octet. This in turn led to the first of many commissions, The Celtic Mass for the Sea for CBC Maritimes, which he co-wrote with librettist Jennyfer Brickenden. Since its premiere in 1991, the Mass has been performed annually throughout Canada, receiving its New York premiere in June of 2002 at Carnegie Hall. This much-loved work continues to be a bestseller on the Marquis Classics label, and is featured on the United Nations 50th Anniversary celebration recording, Here and Now.
More recent commissions include an a cappella choral work for the Canadian Music Centre based on three poems from Sheree Fitch's If You Could Wear My Sneakers, a children's book based on the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mr. Macmillan has also arranged Ms. Fitch's feminist rant, Lucy on Buts for The Aeolian Singers and composed Fancy Nat for the Musica Viva trio and Natalie MacMaster. Mr. Macmillan was Composer-in-Residence for the 2000 Scotia Festival of Music, and premiered five new works for the Festival, including his String Quartet #1, Moods for Sixteen Strings.
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