Gerard Thomas Gillen (born 16 August 1942)[1] is one of the most prominent Irish organists and a Professor Emeritus in Music at Maynooth University.
With a travelling scholarship from the Arts Council of Ireland he was able to pursue further organ studies at Antwerp, Belgium, with Flor Peeters, a time during which he met Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé and Olivier Messiaen.
[5] Gillen's organ pupils include Gerald Barry, John O'Keeffe, Shane Brennan, Peter Sweeney, Andrew Synnott, and others.
In the course of his long career, Gillen has received numerous awards and honorary titles including Gillen enjoys an international reputation as an organ recitalist and has given recitals at prestigious international venues including the Royal Festival Hall, London; McEwan Hall, Edinburgh; Ulster Hall, Belfast; the cathedrals of Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Canterbury, Notre Dame (Paris), St Stephen's (Vienna), Salzburg, Regensburg, Freiburg, Hamburg, Lübeck, St Bavo, Haarlem, Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent, Copenhagen, Madrid, and Tallinn.
Gillen was the organist on the World Meeting of Families 2018's official hymn, "A Joy For All The Earth", written by Irish composer Ephrem Feeley and recorded in Blackrock College Chapel.