About

Mike McInerney plays shakuhachi and piano and builds electronic instruments. He composes and performs intermittently across Europe and the UK.

His electro-acoustic quartet, the Logothetis Ensemble, toured widely between 2006 and 2017. It provided the primary musical performance at the 2017 Unesco World Humanities Conference, linked to the discussion seminar Musical Heritage in an Age of Data Overwhelm. Piano:Forest (2015), composed collaboratively with the sound artist and data scientist Shaun Lewin, was described by Emily Blick in the Wire online as “overwhelming in its multilevel sound design” and “an impressive combination of both a tech and data sublime” in which “the performers become both arch pagans and number-crunchers at GCHQ” though “even then, the force of Piano:Forest takes over.” Mike’s first CD, QuietKnot, with the sound artist Duncan Chapman, was released in 2023. In a review for BAMBOO, the European Shakuhachi Society Journal, Clive Bell said of it “”QuietKnot, whether sat in the kitchen or traversing space at twenty kilometres a second, have produced a convincing, even mind-expanding, set of pieces” (Full review here).

Mike studied mathematics and music as an undergraduate at the University of York, and gained a Ph D in creative and performing arts from Dartington College of Arts, supervised by the composer Frank Denyer. Between 2006 and 2019, he was subject lead in composition on the BA (Hons) music programme at Plymouth University, UK. In 1997, he was a highly commended runner up in the EPTA international piano competition and, in 2019, he was awarded the third and final KSK (International Shakuhachi Kenshu-Kan) European scholarship to study shakuhachi in Japan with the master teachers Kakizakai Kaoru and Teruo Furuya.

Mike is the manager and sole proprietor of MushinNoise, a small independent record label. He continues to write and publish about experimental shakuhachi, live electronic music and the works and ethos of the Viennese visionary composer, Anestis Logothetis (1921 – 1994).

CV (Click to open)

1977 – 1980  Studies in composition and music theory with Caleb Jarvis, Mus. Doc
1981 – 1982  Studies in electronic music composition and performance with Greg Williams, B. Mus
1982 – 1986  BA (hons) mathematics/music, University of York, UK
1987              Sumi-e studies with Stephen Cesertari, Newtown, Sydney, NSW
1990 – 1999  Piano studies with Jo Peach, M. Phil, B. Mus, LRAM
.                     Shakuhachi studies with Yoshikazu Iwamoto
.                     Harmony and counterpoint with Dr Anthony Langford, Leeds College of Music
.                     ALCM piano teaching 1994
.                     Highly commended runner up, EPTA International Piano Competition (London 1997)
.                     Lecturer in composition, John Leggott College, Scunthorpe, Lincs. (1994 – 1999)
1999 – 2006  PhD in Creative and Performing Arts, Dartington College of Arts
.                     Calligraphy studies with Celia Lister FSSI
2006 – 2019  Head of undergraduate composition, Dept of Music, Plymouth University
2013 – 2020  Shakuhachi studies with Véronique Piron & Kakizakai Kaoru

To enquire about lessons or score copies, or to sign up to a mailing list, click here