Chicago Symphony trombonist Michael Mulcahy has appeared as a soloist and teacher in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia. He has appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pierre Boulez in music of Elliot Carter, and most recently with Daniel Barenboim in Leopold Mozart's Concerto for Alto Trombone, which was also broadcast widely on public television.

Michael is the winner of several international competitions, among them the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Instrumental Competition, the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the Viotti International Competition in Italy, and the International Instrumental Competition in Markneukirchen, in the former East Germany.

Sir Georg Solti appointed Michael Mulcahy to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1989. He is principal trombone with Chicago's Music of the Baroque and the Grand Teton Music Festival.

In 1999 he was appointed Professor of Music at Northwestern University.

The Mulcahy family is a family of musicians. Michael's wife, Gabrielle Webster, is an active professional horn player in Chicago; daughter Lauren studied violin through high school and is currently pursuing a degree in education at Northern Illinois University. His son, Patrick, is completing a degree in jazz at Roosevelt University and appearing frequently around Chicago, most notably with the quartet Information Superhighway.