Michael Flynn is a composer of acoustic and electronic music whose works present familiar musical ideas in inventive sonic and structural contexts. To this end, his music juxtaposes timbral exploration and metric complexity with pop-music-inflected harmony and beat-driven groove. Drawn towards bright, sparkling timbres, Michael strives to create works that feature vividly colored, dreamlike sound worlds. Michael’s music has been featured at events such as SPLICE Institute, the CHIME Festival, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP), the National Student Electronic Music Event (NSEME), and SPLICE Festival. Michael has written for performers and ensembles including the Chicago Composer’s Orchestra, Sonic Hedgehog, the Found Sound New Music Ensemble, the Vital Organ Project, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, HINGE, and the MOD[ular] Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, among others.
Michael graduated magna cum laude from Columbia College Chicago in 2016 with a bachelor of music in composition. While at Columbia, he received the William Russo Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Music, presented to one student per year in Columbia College’s music department. His teachers at Columbia included Kenn Kumpf, Eliza Brown, and Francisco Castillo-Trigueros. In the spring of 2018, Michael earned a master’s degree in composition from Western Michigan University, studying under Christopher Biggs and Lisa Coons. During the 2018-19 school year, Michael held a part-time faculty position at Western Michigan, teaching courses in music theory and electronic music. Currently, he is pursuing a DMA in composition at the University of Georgia, studying under Emily Koh, Andrew McManus, and Adrian Childs.