Ian Callanan (born 17 March 1971 in Cork, Ireland), is a composer of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

music and a contemporary Christian

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

best known for composing the hymn "Comfort My People" and "Take and Eat, This is my Body".

Biography

In his own words, Callanan is "one of Ireland’s leading composers of

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong, ...

." He hails form

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

and has been involved with liturgical music his entire life. He has been composing music for over 20 years and recently has produced his first recording for

GIA Publications GIA Publications, Inc. is a major publisher of hymnals, other sacred music, and music education materials that is currently located in Chicago. The organization was initially the publishing arm of the Gregorian Institute of America (1941–1965); ...

in the

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. He is an accomplished composer, arranger, score editor and workshop leader. Callanan's own works are inspired by Ireland's musical tradition. The popularity of his music has led to much of it being used and sung in the many varied languages throughout Europe. Much of his music has been used for television and radio broadcasts in Ireland. He holds an honours masters' degree in Religion and Culture from

Mater Dei Institute of Education Mater Dei Institute of Education () was a linked college of Dublin City University from 1999 until its closure in 2016, located in Drumcondra, Dublin City, Ireland, near Croke Park, on the site of what was formerly Clonliffe College, the Rom ...

, Dublin and an honours degree in Music from

NUI Maynooth Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

. He is an active member of the Dublin Diocesan Music Commission as well as being musical director for his course Music Ministry Together, a liturgical music formation program for youth and adults alike. He is also the director of the “Emmanuel” schools programme, which involves over 2,500 secondary (high school) students, learning new liturgical music, culminating in a celebration concert. Callanan has worked with the composer Liam Lawton, arranging, producing and recording some of his earlier works. He has also worked with Davis Haas and Lori True.

''The Source of Life''

''The Source of Life'' has been described as 'a surprisingly powerful collection of thirteen songs celebrating the Liturgical year'.

''In Beauty We Walk''

In ''Beauty We Walk'' is the latest collection.

Discography

# ''Winter Skies'' (1997) Veritas Publications # ''The Source of Life'' (2009) GIA Publications # ''In Beauty We Walk'' (2012) GIA Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callanan, Ian 1971 births Living people Irish male songwriters Composers of Christian music Musicians from County Cork Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Alumni of Mater Dei Institute of Education Irish hymnwriters 20th-century Irish composers 21st-century Irish composers