MICHAEL NOONE was born in Sydney (Australia) and studied music at the  University of Sydney. A graduate of King's College, Cambridge, he has  dedicated a lifetime to the study of Spanish Renaissance music. As scholar and musicologist he is frequently heard at international conferences, and is known especially for his work in the archives of El Escorial and the  Cathedral of Toledo. Most excitingly, his archival researches have recently led to the discovery of many previously unknown works by such  important Spanish Renaissance polyphonists as Cristobal de Morales,  Francisco Guerrero, Alonso Lobo, and Gines de Boluda. His edition of these  works, under the title of Codice 25 de la catedral de Toledo was published in 2003 by Editorial Alpuerto and Fundacion Caja Madrid.

He has taught at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the Canberra School of Music, Cornell University, and the University of Hong Kong. He has published widely on Spanish music, notably in his book Music and  Musicians in the Escorial Liturgy under the  Habsburgs,  published by Rochester University Press in 1998.
 Michael has  also made a name for himself as the conductor of a variety of ensembles in Britain, Australia, Hong Kong, the USA, and Spain. In a series of recent collaborations he has recorded eight  award-winning CDs of Spanish music with the Orchestra of the Renaissance, the Song Company, and the Sydney Chamber Choir, and Ensemble Plus Ultra.

In 1999 he formed a specially fruitful relationship with the Glossa label, recording his first Glossa CD in that year. To commemorate the 400 th anniversary of the death of Francisco Guerrero, Michael conducted the Orchestra of the Renaissance in this  recording of the composer’s 1582 Requiem, in a liturgical reconstruction  performed as it might have been at Guerrero’s own funeral in Seville Cathedral in November 1599. This was quickly followed by three more award winning recordings for Glossa in which Michael again conducted the vocal and instrumental forces of the Orchestra of the Renaissance.

He made his first Glossa CD with Ensemble Plus Ultra in 2004.