Full length documentary features Echoes of Ireland - The Music of Michael McGlynn and Behind the Closed Eye are viewable below.
Dissertations & Articles
ARTICLE : “Defining the Irish Choral Nationalists: The Composers and their Music” - Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts 2024, 12: 1-32. This article by Dr Stacie Rossow explores the development of Irish choral nationalism through the work of four key composers: Aloys Fleischmann, Seán Ó Riada, Seóirse Bodley and Michael McGlynn. It argues that these composers, through their use of the Irish language, modal harmony and traditional forms, forged a distinct national choral voice that resisted dominant European musical trends. I was deeply honoured to be included among these figures. The article identifies my work, particularly with Anúna, as continuing this tradition by creating new music rooted in the sounds, language and landscape of Ireland, while consciously avoiding a nostalgic or purely folkloric approach. Link to the article is HERE.
ARTICLE : Seán Doherty’s detailed and illuminating analysis of Michael’s “O Maria” is the cover feature of the March/April issue of Choral Journal. The article is entitled “Toward ‘Transcendence’: Music and Meditation in Michael McGlynn’s O Maria”.
Doherty writes : “The term “transcendence” appears frequently in discourse regarding contemporary choral music. It is often used synonymously with its related adjectival forms of “transcendent” and “transcendental.”
An examination of these usages reveals that the term is seldom intended in its technical philosophical or theological definition in this discourse, but most often refers to music that induces a sense of meditation, reflection, and serenity in the listener.”
DISSERTATION : Doctoral dissertation at the University of Miami, Florida The Choral Music of Irish Composer Michael McGlynn (Dr. Stacie Rossow) available to download from their site in PDF format HERE.
DISSERTATION : Dissertation at the University of Louisiana An Overview of the Choral Music of Michael McGlynn with a Conductor’s Preparatory Guide to His Celtic Mass (Dr. Karen Marrolli) is available to download from HERE.
DISSERTATION : 합창작품에 나타난 대중적 켈틱 요소의 특징 연구 - 마이클 맥글린의 《켈틱 미사》를 중심으로 | 진형곤, 류현수 2022. The Study on Popular Elements of Celtic Music in Choir - Focusing on Celtic Mass by Michael McGlynn. "…This paper analyzes the first movement 'Kyrie' and the ninth movement 'Pater Noster' of 'Celtic Mass', a work by composer Michael McGlynn…Through this research, the aim is to publicise the popular value of Celtic music by examining the process of its new fusion in choral works through material utilisation, having only existed in instrumental music and traditional music. Michael McGlynn has harmonised and fused elements of Celtic music with medieval contrapuntal music elements, various contemporary compositional techniques, and created unique and popular modern choral music of Ireland. Such a work can spark a new interest in Celtic music among audiences familiar with Western European or American choral music, along with an exotic freshness.". Available from HERE.
DISSERTATION : Doctoral dissertation at the ASU, Arizona The Evolution of Choral Sound: in professional choirs from the 1970s to the twenty-first century” (Dr. Kira Zeeman Rugan) available to download from their site in PDF format HERE. A fascinating analysis and exploration that Michael contributed to alongside colleagues John Rutter, Harry Christophers, Charles Bruffy, Nigel Short, Craig Hella Johnson, Alice Parker, Michael McGlynn, Phillip Brunelle, Craig Jessop, Libby Larsen, Ola Gjeilo, Cecilia McDowall, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi and Stephen Paulus.
The Celtic Mass 30th Anniversary
Blogs & Video Interviews
The Choral Contrarians
DECEMBER 09, 2020 ERIC BARNUM AND MICHAEL MCGLYNN
Composing: An Ocean of Song. Feat. Michael McGlynn
NOVEMBER 18, 2020 ERIC BARNUM AND MICHAEL MCGLYNN
Anúna and Sean-nós. Feat. Michael McGlynn
Voces8 Live from London Interview
November 07, Interview with Barney Smith of Voces8
Chor Leoni INSIDE series
Ep 1 : Chor Leoni Inside with Michael McGlynn
Ep 2 : Chor Leoni Further Inside with Michael McGlynn
Interview 2008.
Other Resources
Interview with Michael about ANÚNA and his music for Phoenix Hall magazine in Japan and Bravo Magazine (2024) - in Japanese
Extensive interview on the ANÚNA website covering the foundation and development of the group.
Interview from CD Journal 2016 with Gensho Umewaka on the genesis of Takahime (in Japanese) and review of the production from Nikkei Style (in Japanese).
Article "Sacred Choral Music in Worship Has a Power All Its Own" which was featured on the On Being site HERE.
Interview with Hamamatsu Cultural Promotion Foundation [2015]
2015 Article Final Note Magazine.
Naoki Hayashida interview (in English).
CD Journal Japan on the launch of Behind the Closed Eye there (2014, in Japanese).
HCF (Hamamatsu) interview 2014 (in Japanese)
Interviews (2009/2014) with Artes publishing by Junya Matsuyama (in Japanese)