Eimear Quinn is a composer and singer. She joined ANÚNA in 1995 and remained with the group until 1996. That year she won the Eurovision Song Contest. She features on two ANÚNA albums, Deep Dead Blue and Omnis. She currently lives on the shores of Lake Geneva with her husband and two daughters, and will release her latest album “Éiru”, featuring the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, in May 2020. Her website is HERE.

I joined Anúna in 1995 while studying for my degree in Musicology at Maynooth University. I literally begged Anúna singer, Paul Byrne, to get her a meeting with Michael McGlynn, as Anúna (and Michael’s music) was the ultimate in beauty to me. I was asked to do six solos (or it could have been eight?!) on my very first concert in St Patrick’s Cathedral Armagh - to see if I would sink or swim. I was exhilarated! Singing with Anúna was like living in a dream. It was such an immersive experience at an incredibly intense time of my musical development. The influence has been far-reaching and wholly positive.

Although I spent only two years with the group, I recorded two albums and toured extensively with them.

Although my ultimate goal was to be a professional chorister in the UK, another unexpected opportunity was to present itself while singing at the Anúna Christmas Concert in December 1995. In attendance, was the song-writer, Brendan Graham, who asked me to sing his song ‘The Voice’ in the National Song Contest in February 1996. The song ultimately went on the win the Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland in Oslo a few months later.

I continues to enjoy a charmed and lucky life as a result of this happy, serendipitous moment; performing for presidents & royalty, composing and producing solo works for voice and various ensembles. I never forgets the moment where her life took an unexpected turn full of adventure, standing on the stage with the wonderful singers and friends of Anúna.