Rory first joined Anúna in 2005 and proudly continues to work with the group to this day. In this time he had many wonderful experiences.

He was a part of the first Tours to Japan, and China, recorded numerous albums, extensive tours of Europe, and was a part of the adventure that was Celtic Origins PBS Special, Album and subsequent tours in the United States. As well as his ongoing Anúna connection he now works as a freelance opera singer as a lyric Baritone, singing in the UK (Opera Holland Park), Japan (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre) and Germany (Opera Studio Weimar) as well as at home in Ireland (Wexford Festival Opera, Blackwater Valley Opera, Opera Theatre Company, to name but a few).

He is also a proud member of the male vocal group M’ANAM.

“As a young Irish boy of the Nineties it was impossible not to know of Anúna, especially the key role they played in Riverdance for Eurovision 1994. Their clear, mellifluous, hypnotic sound lulled the whole world into a deep inner peace, which acted as the soulful calm before the energy that was to explode from our small television screens. Suddenly Ireland was big, confident, grown up. Though I couldn’t have expressed it then I was witnessing the power of the human voice to transcend boundaries, and enhance and project our local, parochial and national identities across the world. Our rich, collective soul was on display to the world, and it was glorious.

While that was my first experience of Anúna it wasn’t, however, the most important one to me. From Cleggan, Connemara, I was already a natural singer but with no sense of this as a path upon which I could travel. Then one night my parents took me to the Clifden Arts Festival to hear Anúna live. Everything changed. I was submerged into a world of sound I had hardly dreamed of, and was taken on vast journeys across history as these voices wove stories that were beautiful, haunting, magical. I was spellbound. At the end of the concert my mother leaned into me and whispered: “One day you might sing with them”. I blushed and stammered a dismissal: “No! How could I ever sing with them?!”. Fate has a sense of humour. Sure enough, years later I was to find myself nervously auditioning for the group and, to my amazement, being accepted. My mother’s words now seem prophetic. 

I owe so much gratitude to Michael and Anúna for giving me so much: friendship, professional experience, so much fun, and glorious music making. It was Anúna that showed me what I was capable of, and this gave me the courage to take my voice further than I ever thought possible. At age 27 I took all that I had gained and went back to college to study voice and classical music. Now I am a professional opera singer. Though superficially Anúna and Opera may seem worlds apart, the heart of being a performing artist is common to both and I am fortunate to return to the group to give back a fraction of what I gained in those formative years. And now, whether I am strutting the boards in an Opera or melding my voice with Anúna, we still tell stories through music and touch peoples souls. I can think of no greater privilege.