One of the UK’s leading theatre composers. Music for stage, concert hall, church

To commission, to view scores & to buy scores

“A born opera composer…”

Rodney Milnes, The Times, London

About Me

Older man in blue shirt standing indoors, yellow walls and white door behind, serious expression, composer or theatre professional possibly

Find out more about my life in music – as composer and educator working in all parts of the UK and overseas. I have undertaken commissions for some of Britain’s most prestigious institutions and performers. These range from festivals, such as Edinburgh, Holland, Buxton and Almeida Opera, to the English National Opera and the BBC Symphony orchestra.

Scores

A selection of scores for opera, chamber groups and solo instruments; music for choirs and voice and piano are all described here, with possibilities to view.

Reviews

Glasses on sheet music, black frames on white pages with notes, on a wooden table in a bright room, suggesting a composer at work in a theatre or studio setting

Critics reviews and descriptions of pieces from across McQueen’s career are collected and placed in context here.

Latest from my blog

The Death of Tragedy?

They used to say of opera: “It’s over when the fat lady sings.” (Incomprehensible stabbings; foreign lingo; over-the-top hammy acting…) Things have to be larger than life though. Otherwise, why are these people singing and not…
Various music books and booklets on a table, including a theatre piece by Verlaine and a trumpet concerto by Ian McQueen, in a commercial setting.

Comedy

“All is lightness and grace!” wrote an early commentator on Mozart’s great comedy “The Marriage of Figaro”. And yet, in that long tale of love, aristocratic entitlement, family ties and strife, as in all of Mozart,…
A man sits on a white couch, writing in a notebook with a pen, wearing a blue shirt and glasses, in a room with a colourful painting and patterned cushions, with a theatre or composer feel.

Festivals

“Ineluctably the Festivals arise”, to misquote Rainer Maria Rilke. And, as summer approaches, thank God for them! In the world of classical music they are vital. But they now appear, perhaps, as in a shadow of…

Concentration Blues 

Franz Schubert was accused, in his sonata ans symphonies, of “heavenly length”. When Wagner wrote his lengthy operas, civil servants and theatre devotees, clutching their subscriptions, pulled down the blinds and left work at 5 as…
Ian with his loaned trumpet in the Lanarkshire Youth Orchestra

Ian on Music Education

Every young musician needs role models – even composers – where are they now??? Every parent should read this!

Reviews

A woman and man in dark clothes, red background, dramatic theatre scene with composer elements

Leif Aare, Dagens Nyhete

Fortunato (1993) Brilliant adventure!… “…You are here invited to participate in an operatic adventure like nothing you have ever experienced before…Libretto, music, production, light and choreography combine into a total conception…. The result is a piece…
A dark theatre scene with a composer or actor as the devil, wearing a horned headpiece, standing centre, holding a musical instrument, with two men on the left, one holding a lantern, in a dramatic setting.

Paul Driver, The Financial Times

Fortunato (1993)  At the performance of Fortunato I attended the house was full, the average age was seventeen – half that of the town [of Umea] – and the final acclamation was overwhelming. McQueen with his…
Black and white photo of woman and man, East & West, theatre libretto, dark background, English German text

Alexander Waugh, Evening Standard

East and West (1995) Modern horrors of the race war… “A proselytizing treatise on the horrors of modern racism shrouded in the deleterious mystique of contemporary operatic entertainment (?) In reality, nothing could be further from…
A middle-aged man and woman sit together outdoors in a vineyard, smiling, wearing casual attire, the man in red, amidst lush greenery under a pale sky.

John Purser, The Herald

Vocal Music: Dreams for Marcie (1986) The premiere of Dreams for Marcie…brought a welcome visit from one of Scotland’s brightest… émigré composers. The music is necessarily uncompromising but with a powerful dramatic potential. … A telling…
Scottish dances and music, composer Ian McQueen, theatre performance, bagpipe, harpsichord, flute, cello, violin, people dancing

Peter Stadlen, The Daily Telegraph

Chamber Music: Eighteenth Century Scottish Dances (1976) “Yeuch!” yelled the Fires of London players… Ian McQueen had us in fits of laughter. The tunes are selected… from the golden age of Scottish music… The modernity was…
A wrench lies beside a book on a maroon background, with a white flower and green leaves on the cover, titled Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

Michael Tummelty, The Herald

Orchestral Music: Phaedrus (1993) Driven by galloping rhythms … it’s a complex work with a fascinating transatlantic flavour – I kept feeling that jazz was just around the corner.