Michael
is a BMI composer and his academic credits include both a degree
in
music and education
from St. Martin's College in Lacey,
Washington, USA
where he studied
under Rev. Eugene Kellenbenz O.S.B. a renowned
liturgical
composer.
He
went on to earn a degree in music composition from
Cornish
College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, USA. There he
studied
with composer
Lockrem Johnson, himself a student of Howard Hanson
and a colleague
of composer John Cage and choreographers Martha Graham
and Merce
Cunningham.
Over
the years, Michael's compositional styles have been far ranging.
He's
explored everything
from 12-tone serial composition to contemporary rock
and pop forms.
He recently worked alongside the 70's British rock
legend
Peter Frampton while performing duties
as composer
and music director
for a current TV info-mercial.
Michael
has served as a member of the team of composers behind the
critically
acclaimed
PBS series "Wings Over America" produced
by Jeff Gentes of
KCTS
Public Television, Seattle. Among the episodes that
Michael
worked on were
"Washington D.C. Our Nation's Capital" with actor
Jason Robards
narrating and more recently the 90 minute special
"Over America"
with actor Tom Skerrit doing the narration.
Michael
also composed the soundtracks for the popular
Civil War Series
produced by documentary producer/director Jan Kurtis
for
Camelot
Media.
In
addition to his compositional work, Michael is also a highly skilled
synthesizer
programmer.
He assisted composer Hans Zimmer by creating complex
and unusual synth
sound textures for the 20th Century Fox
feature film
"TOYS" starring Robin Williams.
In
the early 70's Michael and his wife Collene joined fellow composer Ron
Ellis,
his wife Nancy
and flautist Mary Lowney at St. Patrick's Parish in
Seattle
to form the
liturgical performing and recording group
Ellis
& Lynch.
They traveled
widely across the United States for over 10 years and
during
that time released
seven albums and songbooks. These recordings and
music
are currently
available through Raven
Music Co. P.O. Box 77011
Seattle,
Washington 98133, USA. For further inquiries
email Ron Ellis
at:
ronellis@nwlink.com
In 1980 Michael
and Collene formed C&M Productions and in 1985
they released
the recording and songbook
"Bread
Of The World"
through
Oregon Catholic Press. Several selections
from that recording
are included
in the Today's Missal Music Issue.
Michael's
songs for worship are being sung in churches throughout the
world.
Most notably
"Father Of Peace", "Bread Blessed & Broken",
"We Stand In
Need", "New Life, New Creation", and
"In The Land
There Is A Hunger"
which is quite
popular at this time with choirs in Great Britain.
Click here to
see a catalog of Michael's songs for
worship>>>
Today,
Michael and Collene are music ministers at Christ The King Parish
in
Seattle, Washington,
USA where Michael continues to compose both
instrumental
and congregational music for worship. He recently
composed
"Micah 6:8" which
was dedicated to the late Rev. Andrew Bullwinkel and
has just made
available his "Mass Of The Covenant" and is currently
putting finishing
touches on a "Mass For Advent".
A
number of Michael's newer liturgical compositions are available online
through
the internet.
Simply click on this logo and go directly to the online publications
page.
Recently
Michael completed music for a high energy computer game
"Fly
Hunter"as well as an educational video for the
"Jason
Project"
which was founded
by Dr. Robert Ballard (discoverer of the Titanic).
In addition he
wrote and produced the score for the newest video release
from
"Railway
Productions", producers of the renowned
"America By Rail"
series.
Currently Michael's
music can be heard in both the US and Canada
on the
internationally syndicated radio program "Imagination
Theater".
Michael
composes the intriguing and captivating music for both
the
"Adventures
Of Harry Nile" and the "Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes"
written and produced
by Jim French, directed by Pat French.
These programs
can also be heard worldwide on the internet by going to
the
Transmedia
of San Francisco Web Site and clicking on this week's
episode.
