Michael T. Dawson
Co-Founder / CEO
Michael is an award winning conductor, educator, co-founder and CEO of the Irish Institute of Music & Song. He returned to Ireland in 2019 from the University of Southern California where he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and teaching assistantship to purse a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Choral Music. Prior to moving to the U.S, he taught at the National University of Ireland Maynooth where he established the Maynooth University Chamber Choir as one of the top performing ensembles in Ireland.
During his time directing the choir they performed around the world on several tour performing in venues across the U.S and China. In 2015 Michael became the first Irish conductor to win the Pavarotti Trophy at the "Choir of the World" International competition at the Llangollen Eisteddfod. He has adjudicated choral competitions nationally and internationally and is regularly invited to provide clinics to groups visiting Ireland.
As a singer Michael spent several years performing with the internationally acclaimed ensemble Anúna and recorded on several albums which include the soundtracks for Diablo III and World of Warcraft. He also hold a masters degree in Ritual, Chant and Song from the Irish World Academy of Music & Dance, University of Limerick and can be heard singing chant on the TV series Vikings.
Michael is passionate about sharing his knowledge with educators in Ireland and abroad. His specialty areas include conducting, vocology, choral music, music education and performance studies.