Michael J. Glasgow - Clinician for Festival 2026

March 6 & 7, 2026 – Pleasant Hill UMC, Bessemer, Alabama

Michael J. Glasgow’s personal alphabet soup includes an ENTJ personality and a delightfully unnerving combination of ADHD and OCD (making him boldly and intensely particular about a whole lot of stuff all at one time!), and he absolutely loves teaching – and learning from – others.

After a full-time church-music career spanning more than 23 years, Michael is now “full-time freelance,” and offer his clientele a full-service experience, without the distractions of a church job or a school job. (Yup, someone who actually answers the phone AND returns e-mails promptly: “what you need, when you need it.”).

Heralded for his “abundant melodic gift” (New York Concert Review), Michael is an award-winning composer of organ, handbell and choral works, and has fulfilled more than 60 commissions. He is deeply committed to his craft, and proud that each piece he writes has a story and a purpose behind it.

Michael made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting his “Requiem” for chorus and orchestra in June 2017, and conducted its European premiere in Vienna in June 2019. More than 170 engagements have brought him to three dozen states, as well as multiple engagements in England, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and a cruise ship in the Eastern Caribbean. Last December, his “Concerto for Castings” was premiered by Toronto’s Counterpoint Community Orchestra, with Emily Li performing the virtuosic solo. Michael’s been named a Distinguished Composer and Conductor by MidAmerica Productions, and will return to the podium at Carnegie Hall next June to conduct his riveting “Gloria” for chorus and orchestra (stop by his booth if you’re interested in being a part of this project!).

Michael serves as the Bass Section Leader of the North Carolina Master Chorale, the Chorus Conductor of the Tar River Orchestra and Chorus (Rocky Mount, NC), and a Principal Guest Conductor of Singapore’s Ministry of Bellz. “The more people I meet through music,” he says, “the smaller the world becomes.”

You won’t find him on Facebook, but visit www.michaeljglasgow.com and @MichaelJGlasgow on YouTube for more information and samples of his work.