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Choral Music in Ireland and the departure of ANÚNA
Last year I posted three articles on this Blog regarding the future of Irish choral music. While I got a huge reaction internationally, I had next to no response from Ireland itself. On foot of those articles I again made an effort to interact with the Arts Council of Ireland. After six months attempting to…
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SOUND & VISION
ANÚNA AND THE WORLD OF VIDEO GAME MUSIC The first video games I played were challenging to the imagination. Hugely pixilated, long loading times but absolutely wonderful. I used them to relax between frenzied composing sessions as I found chasing up and down corridors with a shotgun or flying across a very immobile sky on…
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The Future of Irish Choral Music : Where to now?
Anyone who casts their little boat out on the wild seas rather than stay close to shore is going to have a rough and wild journey. Unfortunately travel broadens the mind. Interacting with countless others over the years on this journey has given me, I believe, a unique perspective. Whether what I have learnt or…
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The Future of Irish Choral Music : The Elephant in the Room
Before I deal with ‘The Elephant in the Room’ of the title, a little background about me and the elephant, I mean ANÚNA. My first experience of choral music was when I was 16. I was visiting a friend’s house and he had the soundtrack of 2001: A Space Odyssey on vinyl. I was fascinated by…
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The Future of Irish Choral Music
Recently I posted on Facebook concerning Chamber Choir Ireland. I am not in the habit of calling out or criticising fellow musicians and I am very aware of the difficulties that all of us face as part of our daily lives without adding to them. The Facebook posting was direct. But what I had to…
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Chrono Cross and the Irish Girl
Last December, rather than sensibly sit inside in front of a warm fire, myself and my daughters Lauren and Aisling stood in a wet field in Co. Leitrim getting soaked while attempting to channel an air of Celto/Japanese mysticism while being pelted in the face with rain (and sleet, and snow). My expensive cameras were…
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The Natural Voice
Once upon a time I could open my mouth and just sing. It really was that simple. A child singing, completely relaxed, no pressure to do more than savour the experience. Living in a house full of music was taken for granted as it flowed through a day filled with Frank Sinatra, piano practice, three-part…
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The ANÚNA Technique
For more information about the ANÚNA Education Programme visit HERE. For the last decade, with a slight blip for Covid, my team and I have held a series of schools and workshops that have become an integral part of our work and that is always hugely rewarding. That reward is different for every group, for…
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Riverdance
I recently stumbled on a performance of the original Riverdance on YouTube. This video comes from the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. It’s interesting to read retrospective assessments of this six-minute segment, and it turns out that it is twenty eight years old in 2022. Anúna and my part in Riverdance consisted of creating an atmospheric…
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Meeting with the Remarkable Mr. Mawby
Michael McGlynn & Colin Mawby March 2016, London Sometimes you can be lucky as an artist and meet someone very special early in your career whose influence remains with you throughout your life. Colin Mawby and I first crossed paths in 1988 when I auditioned for the RTÉ Chamber Choir, a sixteen voice choir that…
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An Interview with Michael McGlynn by Naoki Hayashida
In advance of visits to Japan this Autumn, and the release of the album “Illumination” there, journalist, writer and broadcaster Naoki Hayashida interviews Composer and Artistic Director of Anúna Michael McGlynn. Please tell me about ANÚNA at its foundation, just come together in 1987, for example, the concept and atmosphere of the members. First it…
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Flowers, Sunshine and Shadows
The waves were magnificent and the sun was flashing through dark clouds. I had just sprung, alive, from wild, grey green water after an icy January swim. January is not the coldest month to swim in the Irish sea, but it can be the most beautiful, and this day was perfect. One of my fellow…
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New York Polyphony & John Tavener
In 1990 I didn’t consider myself to be a proper composer. I sometimes dreamed that I would one day be able to have my works performed by groups other than my own, but I was also pretty realistic about my music. It didn’t appear to speak in the same language as my Irish contemporary music…
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The Beginning – An Uaithne to Anúna
Twenty five years of clutter. A quarter of a century of analogue VHS cassettes, silently gathering dust and deliberately avoided. I knew that hidden in the decades of material were things that I simply didn’t need to remember, but there were also things I had forgotten that maybe should be rediscovered. The cassettes were deteriorating too,…
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Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic
Last year Belfast composer Philip Hammond was in a coffee shop in Belfast with me. He told me about this amazing piece he was writing. The title would be “Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic” written in memory of those fallen to the dark depths of the ice cold ocean. His passion was…
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On Choral Music in Worship
I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. My parents endeavoured to give me every opportunity to be exposed to a vast range of music, strongly encouraging our explorations, be they rock or classical music. In school the main exposure to singing was musical drama in the form of Gilbert and Sullivan with a few…
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Obsessed with Early Music at Canticum Gaudium, Poznań
I am still buzzing. I have just returned from Poland, having been invited to adjudicate at the first International Early Music Vocal Competition and give a workshop in Poznań at Canticum Gaudium. The competition was created under the auspices of one of the most famous and renowned European choirs, the Poznań Boys’ Choir. Usually when I give workshops…
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China, June 2011
Even when I finally realised that Anúna were really going to China, flights booked, hotels chosen, I still didn’t believe we were going. China had always been a place so alien, so far away that I never thought I would see it. Until we touched down in Shanghai and travelled to our first venue in…
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From the outside looking in…the 2011 ACDA Conference, Chicago
This July 2011, Anúna will be presenting its first International Summer School at the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The launch of the Anúna Summer School just happened to coincide with the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Chicago. I have been supported by, and made lasting friends with, many US choral people over the…
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Michael McGlynn - Pictures & Visions 