NEWS

Helen's newest orchestral work, The Pearl of Scotland, will premiere on Friday 15 March, 7.30pm at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, performed by Edinburgh University Music Society under the baton of conductor Will Conway. The work takes inspiration from the life and character of Scotland's great Queen, and now Saint, Margaret.

Helen's 20-minute work for symphony orchestra The Rinns of Islay was awarded in the Global Music Awards 2022. The composition/ composer received a Silver Medal for Outstanding Achievement. The international music competition celebrates independent musicians and receives  hundreds of entries from around the globe.  

Perth Symphony Orchestra took on the world premiere performance of The Rinns of Islay on 8th May in the stunning Perth Concert Hall. The concert celebrated music from around the British Isles to mark The Queen's Jubilee. Helen was delighted to play violin in the ranks of the orchestra for the concert.

In March, Helen recorded her new orchestral work The Rinns of Islay with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and PARMA Recordings. The recording took place at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall and will be released in January 2022. The work presents a musical journey around the beautiful Scottish island of Islay.

Helen announced the development of an ambitious new work The Road to Calvary,  portraying the final hours of Christ's life leading up to the Crucifixion. The 40-minute work for Strings, SATB Choir and Timpani examines the most important moment in history, exploring the moments of extreme light and darkness in those final hours.

Alongside composing, Helen administers one of Scotland's leading independent arts festivals, Perth Festival of the Arts, which runs for 10 days throughout the Scottish city each May. In the run-up to the 2019 Festival, Helen was interviewed on composing and her new role with the festival by Keith Bruce at The Herald.

Building on her cornerstone work Gloria in excelsis Deo is Helen's Mass in Latin for SATB choir & piano. A versatile five-movement work (Kyrie, Credo, Gloria, Sanctus & Agnus Dei) with some a cappella movements. Mass for the Spirit can be performed in full or as individual movements as part of a liturgical or concert setting. 

Gloria in excelsis Deo was recorded in the Academy of Performing Arts with Prague Mixed Chamber Choir, conducted by Jiří Petrdlík. Read PARMA Recording's news blog or coverage of Helen's story by Small City Big Personality. The recording will feature on a contemporary choral album 'Voices of Earth and Air' in 2019.

As part of the Florence International Choir Festival 2015, Helen was invited to Italy to receive a Special Mention Award for her setting of Gloria in excelsis Deo. The award was made by a panel of judges chaired by Maestro Ennio Morricone as part of the 2nd International Competition of Choral Composition 'Ennio Morricone'.

Photo below from L to R: Helen MacKinnon, Gaetano Lorandi, Leonardo Sagliocca, Noriko Ieda, John Damsma, Andrea Angelini and Andrea Benedetti

To celebrate the tercentenary of Adam Smith, The University of Glasgow's Adam Smith Business School commissioned Helen to write a short work with a Scottish flavour for String Trio. A Symphony of Moral Sentiments was recorded by Hallelujah Strings and premiered in Kelvin Gallery, Glasgow, on Saturday 10 June.

Anglo-Welsh choir, the Abermore Singers visits Scotland this month performing two concerts in in Dunkeld Cathedral and St Andrews on 6th and 7th August. The programme features works by James MacMillan and Morten Lauridsen, as well as Helen's setting of the Sanctus. Entry is free with funds raised for the Ukraine crisis.

Helen's new orchestral work, The Rinns of Islay is now available to buy or stream. Recorded by the RSNO with PARMA Recordings, and conducted by David Watkin, the 20-min work is inspired by Islay's landscape, climate and abundant whisky industry. Read the composer's notes to enjoy the full listening experience.

With many choirs exploring creative new music ideas this year, Crieff Choral Group commissioned a new choral arrangement of an original song, written by Perthshire musicians Syd House & Dr Nicola Small and based on the poem The Gean Trees by Scottish poetess Violet Jacob. Read about our Perthshire collaboration here.

Presented by PARMA Recordings, Helen's striking and lyrical setting of Ave Maris Stella for Soprano and String Orchestra premiered in the city of Subotica, Serbia with the Subotica Philharmonic and soprano Alenka Ponjavić Vojnić in the City Halls, Subtica on 12 December, gaining national coverage.

"Presenting the best that modern choral compositions have to offer". Settings of traditional prayers are mingled with ethereal stories and otherworldly visions to create a collection that nods to the future or choral music. The release of Helen's acclaimed Gloria in excelsis Deo via Parma Recordings is available for purchase.

Helen features as a Composer in Florence Choral Festivals in the Modern & Contemporary Music category. Helen's Gloria premiered in 2017 with chamber choir Kammerchor Manila who won the Grand Prix. In 2018, the University of The Philippines Singing Ambassadors delivered another stunning performance.

Helen is thrilled to be working with Perth Festival of the Arts to write a new work for the 45th annual Festival. Sing to the Lord a new Song premiered during the Festival Service on 22 May in St John's Kirk, Perth, under the baton of Craig Dennis. See Press Coverage. Helen joined Perthshire artist Georgia Crook on The Janice Forsyth Show on BBC Radio Scotland on 17 May.

Helen was delighted that her orchestral workThe Rinns of Islay has been nominated for the first round of voting in this year's GRAMMY® Awards. The new work was nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. Recorded by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and PARMA Recordings and released in 2022.

Helen is delighted to join composers Oliver Searle and Jay Capperauld as mentors for the RSNO's 2022/23 'Notes from Scotland' programme that supports young composers aged 14-18 years living in Scotland. The programme is now open for applications. Visit the RSNO website for all the details. Deadline for applications is 12 August.

Written in spring 2020 during the first lockdown period, Caledonian Tracks for Wind Ensemble takes a rail journey along the River Tay. Commissioned by Tayside ensemble, Caledonian Winds, the work explores the momentum of life and travel, and its abrupt interruption due to the pandemic in 2020.

Helen was interviewed by Michael Alexander for The Courier Weekend magazine feature on her journey into composing and how she left behind her CEO role five years ago to return to her musical roots and composing aspirations. Read the article complete with music and videos here. 

Helen's choral music will feature in four winter concerts across Perthshire, including the premieres of 'Credo' by Pitlochry & District Choral Society, and 'Wings of the Morning' - a setting of Psalm 139 by Anita MacKenzie Mills and Margaret Sikora as part of 'Hidden Voices' promoting music by female composers.

An interview on Helen's upcoming recording release featured on PARMA Recording's Inside Story. Gloria in excelsis Deo featured on radio shows around the USA including the show promoting female composers Music of our Mothers, broadcast on 10 April. Host Ellen Grolman reviewed the work as 'spectacular writing for voices'. 

A showcase evening in All Saints Church saw a choir of 22 singers perform a programme of Helen's new choral work. The evening saw the world premiere of May the Road Rise Up! and the UK premiere of Gloria.  The sell-out concert concluded with a standing ovation and raised £860 charity PKAVS and All Saints church.

As a female choral composer, Helen was delighted to work with The University of Oxford to compose a new work My Voice for an international conference on the theme of 'Women and the Canon'. The work for female voices and piano explored gender, voice and authority though composition and performance. The premiere took place in Christ Church, Oxford on 22 January.