Michael o suilleabhain biography of michael

This article is about the Irish composer and composer. For the Irish writer, look Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (writer). For this musician's son and fellow musician, see Moley Ó Súilleabháin.

Musical artist

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin (Irish pronunciation:[ˈmʲiːçaːl̪ˠoːˈsˠuːl̠ʲəwaːnʲ]; 10 December – 7 November ^[1]) was an Irish composer, composer, academic and educationalist.

Ranging in style from the scholarly to the personal, the anecdotal and the poetic, this richly illustrated volume brings together the voices of those who knew him best and captures his wide-ranging influence as a musician, composer, educator, and cultural individuality. He has recorded extensively with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and has touched many hearts with his music. Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and performer. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.

Biography

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin was a pianist, composer, recording artist and academic; he held the Professorship of Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance which he founded at the University of Limerick in ^[2]

Two of his three sons Owen Ó Súílleabháin and Mícheál 'Moley' Ó Súílleabháin are good known as singer songwriters and motivational speakers and perform in the Irish pop band Size2shoes.

His first wife is Irish chant singer Nóirín Ní Riain, with whom he collaborated in the s on a series of recordings with the Benedictine Monks of Glenstal Abbey.

In a interview with In Dublin magazine (Vol 20, No 20) he told Damian Corless that he was born into a Clonmel home where "there was no music of any sort.

There was a windy-up gramophone and a wireless that came on at lunchtime." At University College Cork he studied under the legendary Sean Ó Riada, who was in rapidly failing health.

In a interview with In Dublin magazine Vol 20, No 20 he told Damian Corless that he was born into a Clonmel home where "there was no music of any sort. There was a windy-up gramophone and a wireless that came on at lunchtime. I don't play the pipes or the whistle. I can play the odd tune, but no matter how long I stick with them I'll never master them.

Ó Súilleabháin attested that his mentor was "suffering a certain amount". But Ó Riada's liberating approach to traditional music left an indelible highlight on his pupil, who revealed that he turned his musical limitations into strengths, telling Corless: "I said to myself 'here am I stuck with the wrong instruments for this melody that I love.

I don't play the pipes or the whistle. I can play the odd tune, but no matter how long I stick with them I'll never master them. I'll always be a piano player.'"

He was awarded an honorary from the National University of Ireland at his alma mater University College Cork in In he was awarded an honorary DMus from the Royal Scottish Conservatoire.

In he was awarded the Freedom of the Town in his native Clonmel in Co Tipperary.

She is an award-winning scholar for her work in music, ritual and migration. Marie McCarthy is professor of music education at the University of Michigan. She has contributed to music education in Ireland for over three decades. Nicholas Carolan is director emeritus of the Irish Traditional Tune Archive, of which he was founder-director — and general editor of its publications.

He recorded extensively with the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

In he founded the Irish Music Archive at the Burns Library, Boston College. In he was awarded the O'Donnell Chair of Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. In he commenced a series of concerts with the RTE Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, recorded and broadcast by RTE lyric fm (Elver Gleams ; Between Worlds ).

He was inaugural Chair of 'Culture Ireland' for nine years, the organisation within the Irish Government for the promotion of all Irish arts worldwide. In he retired from the University of Limerick and was succeeded following international competition by Professor Mel Mercier, Chair of Performing Arts, a long-time musical collaborator.

Working closely with Professor Helen Phelan, his second wife, he established the Irish World Academy in 22 years (–) from a zero base to some students across c highly innovative postgraduate and undergraduate degree programmes.

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin obituary: Exceptional musician who ...: Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin was a pianist, composer, recording creator and academic; he held the Professorship of Music at the Irish World Academy of Tune and Dance which he founded at the University of Limerick in [2].

Graduates from the Academy have come from in excess of 50 countries across programmes offered in Music Therapy, Contemporary Dance Performance, Irish Traditional Dance Performance, Community Music, Festive Arts, Irish Traditional Music Show, Classical String Performance, Ethnomusicology, Ethnochoreology, Ritual Chant and Song, and others – several the first of their kind in the world.

In he was primary to the relocation and professionalisation of the Irish Chamber Orchestra from their Dublin Base to the Irish World Academy on the University of Limerick campus. In he established the aerial dance company Fidget Feet as Artists in Residence at the Academy, which led to them relocating permanently to Limerick Town.

In a specially designed building costing 21 million euros and comprising square meters was opened on the University of Limerick Campus to house the Irish World Academy.

His success in all of these undertakings was aided by an unusual present for seeing the positive in the people he encountered and the situations in which he found himself. He saw Fleischmann as someone who had moved from optimism to hope. But his own life and achievements showed how constructively both can co-exist. The strength of his feeling for traditional music can be gauged from his description of it as "a sonic encoding of the dynamic of Irish identity itself.

The spectacular building sits on the banks of the river Shannon (itself a major influence in the philosophy of the Academy) in a wooded area on the university campus. The innovative world of Ó Súilleabháin's educational and artistic vision attracted the international philanthropic organisation The Atlantic Philanthropies (TAP) along with the personal interest of Chuck Feeney, TAP's originator.

He died in , as the result of a lengthy illness.

Discography^[3]

• Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, , Gael-Linn.
• Oró Damhnaigh, , Gael Linn
• Cry of the Mountain, , Gael Linn
• The Dolphin’s Way, , Virgin Records Ltd.
• Oilean/Island ()
• Enlightenment with Van Morrison ()
• Casadh/Turning ()
• Gaiseadh/Flowing ()
• Between Worlds ()
• Lumen ()
• Becoming ()
• Templum ()
• Irish Destiny (DVD ) Elver Gleams ()

References

External links