Professor Mícheál Ó Súílleabháin, Chair of Music and Founding Director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, is to be conferred with the freedom of Clonmel Co Tipperary, his home town, at a civic reception on Friday January 22nd at 7.30pm.  A spokesman for Tipperary County Council said “Professor Ó Súílleabháin will become the Town’s 23rd Freeman and the first since 2012 when the honour was conferred on President Michael D Higgins. This honour is being conferred in recognition of Mícheál’s outstanding national and international achievements as a pianist, composer, recording artist and academic and as a token of the high esteem in which he is held by the People of Clonmel.  For all this and much more, the Mayor and Members of Clonmel Borough District consider him worthy to be named an honorary citizen.”

Mícheal Ó Súilleabháin is Chair of Music and Founding Director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Noted for his development of a uniquely Irish traditional piano style, he has recorded extensively with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Previous Awards include Honorary D.Mus. (National University of Ireland/University College Cork, 2005); Ollamh na hÉigse (Inaugural award by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann 2006); Honorary Alumnus Award (Boston College) and the O’Donnell Chair of Irish Studies  (University of Notre Dame) 2012.

He has produced a series of CD recordings in America, the UK, and Ireland (Compass, Nimbus, and Real World labels) on the traditional music of the Shetland Islands, Donegal, Cape Breton Island and on Irish traditional musicians in the USA and in England. The trilogy of recordings he produced and musically directed featuring Noirin Ni Riain and the Monks of Glenstal Abbey throughout the 1980s is still regarded internationally as a classic recording series in this genre. His television series A River of Sound: The Changing Course of Irish Traditional Music in 1995 (RTE/BBC/Hummingbird Productions) sparked a national debate on tradition and innovation in Irish musical tradition. He also worked closely as Assistant Editor with Professor Aloys Fleischmann on the monumental Sources of Irish Traditional Music (Garland Press, two volumes, London and New York 1998).