Full length documentaries Echoes of Ireland - The Music of Michael McGlynn & Behind the Closed Eye

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 : Doherty, Seán. Toward ‘Transcendence’: Music and Meditation in Michael McGlynn’s “O Maria”. The Choral Journal, vol. 62, no. 7, 2022, pp. 8‒19. The article examines how “O Maria” functions as a contemplative musical work rather than a conventional liturgical motet. Seán Doherty situates the piece within McGlynn’s broader aesthetic, focusing on the use of repetition, limited harmonic motion, modal inflection, and extended duration as tools that encourage meditative listening. Drawing on ideas from sacred minimalism and chant, the article argues that “O Maria” invites performers and listeners into a state of inward focus, where musical process and spiritual reflection become closely aligned. The work is presented as an example of how contemporary choral music can deliberately cultivate stillness, attention, and a sense of transcendence through restrained musical means. You can read it HERE.

ARTICLE : Kevin Boushel’s article HERE Irish Choral Music: Problems and Possibilities from The Choral Journal, August 2024, Vol. 65 No. 1 examines why Irish choral music has historically been underrepresented in music histories, and explores how language, colonial legacy, publishing structures, and questions of identity have shaped its development. It considers how contemporary composers negotiate tradition and modernity within an Irish context.
The article positions McGlynn’s work as a central case study in contemporary Irish choral music, arguing that you do not attempt to revive a lost choral tradition but instead construct a new, coherent sound-world. Boushel highlights your use of Irish-language texts, modal writing, and ritualised performance as compositional choices rather than claims of authenticity, and presents ANÚNA as an author-led project that reimagines what Irish choral music can be outside institutional or revivalist frameworks.

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.

Blogs & Video Interviews

  • RÚV (Iceland National Broadcaster, Podcast)
    June 2025 INTERVIEW: listen HERE

Other Resources