What a Difference a Day Makes: Chance encounter with composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin changed my life

A chance encounter with the late Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin at Glenstal Abbey in the mid ‘90s changed the course of Helen Phelan’s life, both professionally and personally. She talks to Helen O’Callaghan about it.

Helen Phelan, wife of composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin. Picture: Brendan Gleeson.

It didn’t seem seismic, the chance encounter I had with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin at Glenstal Abbey in the summer of 1994. Yet, it changed the trajectory of my life.

I was at Glenstal with my sister, Chrissie. I was interested in medieval music and the Benedictine community is one of the few that still sings Latin chants, which I love. I was walking up the avenue one evening and this car pulled up behind me. The window rolled down and there was Mícheál.