Mary McAuliffe is an Irish composer, born in Cork, and a graduate of University College, Cork. Her widely performed works include choral/vocal, (frequently composed to her own texts), instrumental, film soundtracks and opera, and include a variety of styles, often influenced by her Celtic heritage. Her work is represented by the Contemporary Music Centre of Ireland and documented in the Directory of Irish Composers.
Mary first visited the United States in 1997 when her Mass was performed at a St. Patrick’s Eve celebration of Irish Sacred Music 14 by the Chancel Choir of Glenn Memorial UMC of Emory University, Atlanta, under the direction of Dr. Steven Darsey. Lat-er that year, the choir was invited to sing Mary’s Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, opening a week of commem-oration of the Great Irish Famine, 1845-1848. Commissions and performances by other esteemed soloists and choruses fol-lowed, and Mary’s music was soon being widely included in concert programs across North America.
Following the premiere performance of Leaving, A Famine Victim’s Cry of Desolation, by Dr. James Flannery, tenor, marking the commemoration of the Irish Famine, Mary created two further commissioned compositions, Return to Old Ireland for the Michael O’Neal Singers, Roswell, GA and An American Odyssey for Columbia Pro Cantare, Columbia, MD, thereby completing the charting of the Irish-American experience in what is now a 55-minute An Irish American Trilogy.
Mary’s music has been showcased at Irish, American and Canadian Universities and her instrumental pieces are featured on the examination syllabus of the Royal Irish Academy of Music. A recipient of the 2003 Ireland Canada University Foundation (Riverdance) Scholarship, she created a 7-movement song cycle of texts from Ireland and Newfoundland for Shallaway, director Susan Knight. Mary’s music is published in Ireland, and in the USA by Earthsongs and through Henry Leck’s Choral
Artistry Series published by the Hal Leonard Corporation.
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