Michael McGlynn

McGlynn has written music for theatre, including the Adrian Noble/Cusack family production of Anton Chekhov's "Three Sisters" at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, and the Royal Court, London. He is also a vocal and choral clinician, working recently in the University of Miami (US), Sumida Hall (Japan) and Festival 500 in Newfoundland (Canada). He was an Eminent Scholar at Florida Atlantic University for the 2011–12 academic year. In 2017 he was awarded the University College Dublin Alumni Award for Arts and Humanities.. McGlynn will be the Artistic Director of the 2021 Tampere Vocal Music Festival in Finland..

Karen Marrolli for her 2010 thesis on McGlynn writes: "Throughout all of McGlynn's work, while there are a good amount of compositional thumbprints and overarching characteristics, there also is a great deal of variety. This is an incredibly refreshing aspect to McGlynn's choral writing. Various constant influences are present in his music and give his canon a sense of identity; however, he does not simply reconstruct successful pieces over and over again in an attempt to rest on his laurels. His body of work displays a great range of techniques and musical ideas and continues to develop and mature. Further study of some of his more recently recorded works, such as O Maria and the brilliant work Victimae (both released on the 2009 Anúna CD Sanctus) would reveal how his musical influences factor into his compositional efforts in ever-evolving ways. This continuous growth bodes well for the longevity of this composer as he takes his place among the important composers of our time.

+ Both albums amalgamated into a single remastered release in 2003.

McGlynn was born in Dublin and attended Coláiste na Rinne and Blackrock College. He was a student of Music and English at University College Dublin and Trinity College where he studied for an M.Litt degree. He was a member of the RTÉ Chamber Choir and in 1987 he founded the Irish choral group Anúna (originally spelt "An Uaíthne"). Anúna have released fourteen albums, almost exclusively featuring his arrangements and original works. Deep Dead Blue was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2000 and went Top 5 in the UK Classical Charts. Anúna: Celtic Origins was the biggest selling world music CD in the US in August 2007 according to Nielsen Soundscan [10], and remained in the top twenty albums of the Billboard World Music Charts until early 2008. Although best known as a writer of choral music, McGlynn has written orchestral and instrumental works as well as cantatas and masses. 2007 saw the premiere of the cantata St. Francis commissioned by RTÉ, the Irish National broadcasting station. It is a setting of texts associated with Francis of Assisi for tenor, choir and symphony orchestra. The album Behind the Closed Eye is a collaboration with the Ulster Orchestra, Northern Ireland's premiere orchestra.

Michael McGlynn (born 11 May 1964) is an Irish composer, producer, director, and founder of the vocal ensemble Anúna.