Anúna (stylized in all caps) is a vocal ensemble formed in Ireland[7] in 1987 by Irish composer Michael McGlynn under the name An Uaithne.

Taking the current name in 1991,[8] the group has recorded 18 albums and achieved a high level of international success, including a significant role in Riverdance from 1994 to 1996.

[10] McGlynn reconstructed and arranged a substantial amount of early and medieval Irish music, as well as writing original pieces.

"[13] McGlynn also created new compositions that could be perceived as arrangements of Irish songs but were, in fact, new melodies composed to traditional texts.

When I developed it, it was almost as a protest against the artificial nature of choral groups I had been part of, where singers appeared to sing for themselves, never as a genuine unit and never for the audience.

"[17] The vocal timbre of the group has changed over the last thirty years according to McGlynn, "In 1994 Anúna was embryonic and restrained by the capacity of the singers to actually perform the material.

Anúna now contains some of the finest choral singers on the planet, so I am gradually becoming used to the idea that I can stretch my voice as a writer considerably more than in the past.

Founding members included Monica Donlon[6][3] and opera singer Miriam Blennerhassett from Howth (both of whom he had met at UCD),[19] as well as Garrath Patterson.

[32] Their album Sensation, released in April 2006, was an eclectic collection with settings by McGlynn of texts by Cardinal Henry Newman, Arthur Rimbaud and Hildegard von Bingen.

The title track featured a spoken recitation of the Rimbaud poem "Sensation" by the Breton singer Gilles Servat.

In January 2007, Anúna recorded a series of live performances in Cleveland which have been broadcast extensively on PBS across the US in a "special" produced by The Elevation Group and Maryland Public Television.

[34] The single "Ding Dong Merrily on High" reached number 26 on the Billboard "Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks" chart in December 2008.

Also featured are McGlynn's "Agnus Dei", Miserere mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri and Crucifixus by Antonio Lotti.

[37] The group performed again with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland in July 2010, with Finnish violinist Linda Lampenius.

No fewer than five of the soloists who have been featured on Celtic Woman since 2005 (Órla Fallon, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Lynn Hilary, Éabha McMahon, Tara McNeill and Deirdre Shannon) have been members of Anúna.

On 27–29 January 2011, Anúna joined Irish musical pioneers Clannad for three concerts at Dublin's Christ Church Cathedral for the Donegal group's fortieth anniversary celebrations.

The event took place between 5 and 9 July, and featured a team of international facilitators including Matthew Oltman, then musical director of Chanticleer.

[44] In April 2012, Anúna participated in the premiere of Philip Hammond's Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic at St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast.

[45] To celebrate their 25th anniversary in June 2012, Anúna released their new album Illumination, a fifteen track CD[46] and (in May) featured on the soundtrack to the video game Diablo III.

Blizzard Entertainment audio director Russell Brower said "Working somewhat against conventional expectations, Hell is a beautiful and seductive sound, provided by Dublin's uniquely astounding choral group ANÚNA".

It included a performance of Yokomichi Mario's adaptation of W. B. Yeats' "At the Hawk's Well" entitled "Takahime", directed and scored by McGlynn and Genshō Umewaka (a Japanese Living National Treasure), who said of the collaboration with Anúna: "I think Celtic choral music and Noh are similar in both being abstract arts...So we have no need to hesitate and can just make all the creative sparks we wish."

[50] On July 30, 2017, the choir performed at the Francis Ledwidge memorial event at Richmond Barracks in Dublin; McGlynn commented "When I discovered Ledwidge for the first time through the academic work of Inchicore poet Liam O'Meara, it was like finding a kindred spirit" and "Over the last two decades I have taken his poetry around the world as Anúna has toured.

"[51] In November 2017, Anúna released a video (created by Michael McGlynn) of the piece "Shadow of the Lowlands", composed by Yasunori Mitsuda.

My attention was drawn to the lead singer, Michael McGlynn, and I dreamt about making music with ANÚNA one day.

[7] Miriam Blennerhassett is an Irish mezzo-soprano, and is the current Chorus Master of Anúna, also featuring as a soloist on CD, DVD and in performance.

She features as a soloist on the albums Omnis, Invocation, Sensation, Deep Dead Blue, Celtic Origins and Behind the Closed Eye.

Originally an architect[citation needed] by trade, he currently acts as a director of the choir, touring in that capacity throughout Europe and the US.

Other arrangements and original pieces include "The Fisher King", "Buachaill ón Éirne", "Siúil a Rúin" and "O Come All Ye Faithful".