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FULL ANGELS UNAWARES (MacMillan) at the Sistine Chapel Vatican 2026 Elizabeth Watts, Matthew McKinney
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Angels Unawares' at the Sistine Chapel
- Composer: MacMillan James
- Libretto: Robert Willis
- Venue & Opera Company: Sistine Chapel, Vatican, Rome, Italy
- Recorded: March 22, 2026
- Type: Concert Live
- The Meaning: The title is drawn from the Epistle to the Hebrews (“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares”), serving as a meditation on compassion, human dignity, and the sacred appearing in everyday life.
- Movements: The roughly 70-minute piece is split into 12 short movements—six focused on Old Testament angelic encounters and six on the New Testament
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Angels Unawares, a profoundly moving oratorio filled with angelic encounters and expressions of fear and hope, 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’s faith is fundamental to his art, and in theological terms Angels Unawares evokes and explores the numinous as manifest in encounters with angelic presences in the Old and New Testaments. Its scope is visionary, with both words and music standing to resonate with a wide audience as a vigorous, contemporary expression of faith.
Themes and Structure
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