Mark Donnelly

Mark Emerson Donnelly
Born	(1960-02-29) February 29, 1960 Vancouver, British Columbia
Alma mater	University of British Columbia, Thomas Aquinas College
Occupation	Composer/Conductor/Singer
Known for	Anthem singer for the Vancouver Canucks (2001–present)
Spouse	Catherine
Website	markemersondonnelly.com, Youtube Channel

Mark Emerson Donnelly (born February 29, 1960) is a Canadian singer noted for singing the national anthem "O Canada" at the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks home games. Donnelly is known for holding the microphone to the crowd and encouraging them to sing along.

Biography

Mark Donnelly was born and raised in Vancouver and North Delta, playing ice hockey from the age of 12. Armed with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of British Columbia, he began singing national anthems for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League while working for a Scranton, Pennsylvania parish. After he and his family moved back to Vancouver, he started doing the same for the Vancouver Canucks beginning in 2001.

He made a cameo appearance in the TV show Psych, playing an opera singer in the season four premiere episode "Extradition: British Columbia", and then another cameo appearance as a singer in the final episode "Apotheosis" of the science fiction series Caprica.

Donnelly and his wife, Catherine have nine children. They and their four youngest children currently reside in White Rock, British Columbia. His brother, Lawrence, is the priest of Ss Joachim and Ann Parish in Aldergrove. He is a staunch supporter of the Canadian pro-life movement.

Career

Performer in popular culture

Most recognized for his immensely popular appearances singing the national anthem at NHL games, Mark is commonly referred to as "Mr. O Canada". As the Signature Performer of the Vancouver Canucks, Mark has won the hearts of hockey fans and all Canadians from coast to coast by holding the microphone to the crowd and encouraging them to sing along to his solid and unabashedly patriotic version of the Canadian national anthem.

On October 3, 2014, Donnelly went viral on social media after tripping on a rug while skating and singing "O Canada" at a Penticton Vees game.

Composer

Though Donnelly has composed and arranged music since he was in high school, it has been both the focus and passion of his musical life since 2009. That passion drives him to write music which, in his words, is "for the greater glory of God, and the edification of souls." Donnelly grounds his writing firmly in the great ecclesiastical tradition of the Western Church, using Gregorian Chant and the classical Roman polyphonic school, as exemplified by Giovanni da Palestrina(1525–94), as model, guide and inspiration.

Donnelly's repertoire of liturgical (church) compositions is wide-ranging. He has written numerous Latin motets, masses and Gregorian Chant harmonizations, as well many English hymns and responses. At this time, among other projects, Donnelly is seeking financial support to make a professional quality recording of his Missa "Sicut cervus" (2012), which is an imitation mass based on Palestrina's famous double motet Sicut cervus / Sitivit anima mea.

Primarily a liturgical composer, Donnelly also writes secular choral arrangements and art songs. His epic musical setting of Alfred Noyes' (1880-1958) classic ballad of love & death, The Highwayman, draws on Mark's experience performing the songs of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), among others.

In 2020, Donnelly was appointed Composer in Residence for Una Voce Canada.

On December 4, 2020, the Vancouver Canucks cut ties with Donnelly, via Twitter, after it came out that he planned on singing at an anti-mask rally.

Organum Novi Mundi

Organum Novi Mundi (organum of the new world, ONM) is a Gregorian compositional technique pioneered by Mark Emerson Donnelly in 1989. Drawing on the tradition and inspiration of Medieval Organum, Donnelly combines this with the harmonic development of the high Renaissance. Sung in the same rhythmic manner of the original Gregorian plainsong, ONM expands on and embellishes the chant’s simple beauty without drawing the mind of the listener away from the text. Often alternated with unison plainchant, ONM may be in two to six parts. To date, Donnelly has produced dozens of these compositions for parochial use.

• Agnus Dei (Mass XVII)
• Attende Domine
• Media Vita

Sacred Music Compositions

• Ave Maria
• Domine de cælo
• Missa "Alleluia. Magnus Dominus" (unfinished)
• Missa pro defunctis (Requiem) a duo, for Soprano & Tenor (2015)
• Several Masses, including the imitation mass, Missa "Sicut cervus" (2012)Kyrie based on Palestrina's double motet, Sicut cervus/Sitivit anima mea.
• Numerous motets, hymns & responsorial psalms as well as SATB chant harmonizations
• Pater noster

Secular music compositions

• The Highwayman (tenor and piano, 2015)
• The Burning Babe (solo voice & piano, 2017)
• Two Newfoundland Songs
• She Like the Swallow, (soprano & piano, 2016)
• Proud Nancy (soprano, tenor & piano, 2016)
• Many Christmas carols for SATB
• Many art, broadway & folk songs & Christmas carols for soprano & tenor

Other recordings

• Carol of the Bells, Mark Donnelly & the Donnelly Family Quartet, classic and original arrangements of Christmas Carols (conductor/arranger/singer), White Rock, BC (2009)
• All Saints at Saint Michaels, (featuring Victoria's Missa "O quam gloriosum") St. Michael's Polyphonic Choir & Domus Aurea (conductor/singer), Scranton, PA (1999)
• O magnum mysterium, Domus Aurea (conductor/singer), Scranton, PA (1998)
• Songs from St. Gregory's Academy (conductor/arranger), Elmhurst, PA (1997)
• Missa pro defunctis a duo (Mark Emerson Donnelly), Colleen Donnelly (soprano), Mark Donnelly (tenor), recorded at Holy Rosary Cathedral, Vancouver, BC, (April, 2017) NOT RELEASED

Teacher / Conductor / Clinician

Donnelly has been a private voice instructor since 1984, and a Parochial Catholic Church Choir & Schola director for over 40 years. He currently directs Schola Davidica & Chorus Faustinae at Holy Family Parish (FSSP) in Vancouver and teaches voice at Mark Donnelly's VocalArt Studio, https://www.facebook.com/VocalArt.ca in White Rock. He has been a vocal clinician and consultant for various school, barbershop, community & church choirs (most notably, as vocal coach for the monks at Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey, Oklahoma). In August, 2019, Donnelly will be leading the "professional" section at the 2019 BC Sacred Music Symposium. The Symposium will feature some of Mark's compositions.

While continuing to maintain his schedule of conducting and performing, Donnelly is currently developing Gregorian Chant and Seasonal Liturgical Choral Workshops. As time permits, he also offers vocal masterclasses.

Donnelly has taught music and mathematics at the elementary and high school level, and logic and ethics at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary (FSSP), where he worked closely with Dr. Dennis McInery. Mark is also a music and corporate keynote speaker.