Filling the Silence.(Composer James Macmillan)

Composer James Macmillan won a standing ovation at the premiere of his 1990 work, "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie." Since then, his bold, breathtaking compositions have been performed by orchestras worldwide, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. Shortly before the Proms premiere of his Third Symphony, "Silence," he spoke to NEWSWEEK's Tara Pepper by phone from his home in Glasgow. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What problems does new classical music face at the moment?

MACMILLAN: It's not at the center of our culture. The ubiquity of pop culture of various types has pushed all kinds of reflective, serious art to the periphery.

It needs better marketing?

It's regarded as remote and old-fashioned. People with good will and a bit of vision need to build classical music back into the fiber of our culture. There is a great need for people to present the joy of an act of listening, which requires a great deal of attention.

Are audiences becoming more receptive to modern classical music?

People are getting disillusioned with the transitory nature of contemporary popular culture. They're hungry for a deeper engagement with something that increases their knowledge of human life and history. That hunger will grow to the extent that some forms on the periphery right now will be seen as timely, substantive and life- enhancing. In the meantime people like myself must never try to dumb down what we do. Classical music is one of the ...