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John Milne

Composer / Villa Park, Illinois
Member since July 2019
e-mail: johnmilne@sprynet.com Born in the US to British immigrant parents, John grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and has lived in Chicago for the past 25 years. After a long career writing, arranging and singing pop (The Toons, two-time Gold Cabaret Award winners and early MTV act), alt-country (Long Gone Lonesome Boys with over one million I-Tunes and Spotify downloads) and a cappella (with three-time Harmony Sweepstakes winners Chicago Voice Exchange), he has turned to composing more serious choral music in recent years, becoming a published composer and winning numerous national and international composition contests

My Style

Neo-classical, 80% Bach, 10% jazz, 10% Swedish folk music

Featured Compositions

Listen to works by John Milne

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The Virgin's Lullaby Lament

a cappella (SSAA)
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A setting of the saddest carol lyric I've ever heard, a good change of pace in a Christmas concert
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When All the World's Asleep

SATB
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A setting of an wonderful Irish Christmas poem. This is available from Pavane/Hal Leonard/J W Pepper
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Do You Know the Song that the Angels Sang?

SATB
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A nice "gloria" for Christmas. This is available from Pavane/Hal Leonard/J W Pepper
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Soft and Safe to Thee

SATB
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A setting of a poem read at funerals
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Bird Song

SATB with soprano solo
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An animal rights anthem (no, it's beautiful, really!)
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Per Crucem ad Lucem

SSATB
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A setting of the Latin phrase meaning "Through the Cross to the Light" as a five part fugue
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Soldier Boy

SATB with tenor solo
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A setting of a heart-breaking WWI poem called "Suicide in the Trenches"
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The Falcon (Corpus Christi Carol)

SATB
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A setting of a mystic medieval poem about an astral trip!
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The Winter It is Past

SATB
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A setting of a lovely Robert Burns poem
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Everyone Suddenly Burst Out Singing

SSATB
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A setting of a Siegfried Sassoon poem inspired by Christmas Eve 1918, when German and English troops heard one another singing carols a declared an improtu truce, came together and sang together to celebrate Christmas.
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Come, Little Leaves

SATB
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A setting of a lovely George Cooper poem, perfect for non-religious funerals or fall concerts
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The Jesus Prayer

SSATB
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A setting of the Jesus Prayer, which is very important in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, together a quote that often appears on the tombs of Templar Knights in Malta. A hymn of deep repentance and hope.
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Melchior's Carol

SATB
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A carol about the Wise Man who brought myrrh, with a "Gloria in Excelsis" chorus.
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Still Falls the Rain

SSATB
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A setting of an Edith Sitwell poem, written during the Blitz of London in 1940, one of the most powerful affirmations of faith in the face of human evil ever written.
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The Golden Sea

a cappella
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A setting of a lovely transcendentalist poem by Samuel Longfellow about the sky, the sea, sunset, the soul, the oneness of it all!
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Respirare

SATB choir, cello and tubular bells
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A setting of a portion of the Epistles of Petrus Blesensis, a 12th century monk and scholar. The text is in Latin. English translation: I am a mortal man, sold into sinful bondage; I am trapped deep in the mire, and even in the glorious freedom of the children of God, I can't breathe. Help me, help me Lord...
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The Cloak, the Boat, and the Shoes

SATB
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A setting of a Yeats poem. I came across it at the height of Covid, and it seemed so apt - it's about taking sorrow and turning it into something useful and beautiful. Available from Pavane, Hal Leonard or J. W. Pepper.
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It Was a Lover and His Lass

SATB
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A setting of the famous Shakespeare song. This will be available on Pavane, Hal Leonard and J. W. Pepper next spring.
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Home, They Brought Her Warrior Dead

SATB
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A setting of a lovely Tennyson poem
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