Michael McGlynn
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Michael McGlynn was born in Dublin and is best known as composer for and director of the Irish choir Anúna which he founded in 1987. Anúna have released nine albums, almost exclusively featuring Michael's arrangements and original works, since 1993. "Deep Dead Blue" was the first Irish record to be nominated for a Classical Brit Award and went top 5 in the UK Classical Charts. "Essential Anúna" featuring Michael's original works and arrangements was released by Universal UK in 2003, where it charted in the Classical Charts, and by Koch International Records in 2005 in the USA.
Currently many hundreds of choral groups world-wide perform Michael’s work on a regular basis, with some of his works entering the choral venacular as "standards" including the piece Dúlamán, which has been recorded many times, and in particular by the Grammy Award winning U.S. all-male vocal group Chanticleer. They have commissioned a new work from Michael for performance in 2007. Finnish vocal group Rajaton have performed and recorded Michael's work, and he has written specially commissioned vocal works for many groups internationally.
Michael has written a large number of instrumental and orchestral works which have been performed worldwide. His saxophone and piano work Visions, commissioned by Gerard McCrystal in 1996, has been particularly successful and is on the syllabus of the Royal College of Music. His music can be heard on film and television soundtracks all over the world, including on the award-winning film "The Work of Angels", an exploration of the Book of Kells. His collaborative project "Silver River" for orchestra and oboe [commissioned by oboist Matthew Manning] features an entire album of his original work and arrangements, while "Behind the Closed Eye", originally premiered and recorded by The Ulster Orchestra and Anúna is currently being adapted as an orchestral and vocal suite.
He was musical director for the historic Adrian Noble/Cusack family production of Anton Chekov’s "Three Sisters" at the Gate Theatre Dublin and Royal Court London and was commissioned to write an original score for the play. He acted again as musical director for the Jim Sheridan production of "The Risen People" at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre. He is an accomplished solo singer specialising in early music, and has worked with many international artists as a soloist including most notably Elvis Costello, Fretwork and Jeff Buckley at the Meltdown Festival at London's South Bank in 1995. He has written songs with country music legends Rodney Crowell and Delbert McClinton, and has also written a number of songs with his twin brother John McGlynn.
