Michael Doran was born to Marion and Arthur Doran in Hamilton Ontario in 1940. He was the oldest of their four children. The family lived in the nearby town of Dundas, Ontario, where Michael attended primary and secondary school, and studied piano privately. He earned an Associate Diploma in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto while an undergraduate at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he received his undergraduate degree in English Literature. Upon graduation he won a major scholarship to do graduate work in music history at the University of Chicago. His musical mentor at McMaster was Professor Frank Thorolfson, who had taught at the University of Chicago before moving to McMaster to establish its Bachelor of Music degree program and become its first Music chair.

While completing his master's thesis in musicology at the University of Chicago Michael taught a year at Dickinson College in Carlyle, Pennsylvania, then returned to the Dundas, Ontario area where he was active as a church organist, choral director, and piano teacher for several years. During this time he also served as adjunct music professor at McMaster and as choral director for the music department's newly established choir Schola Cantorum. He received his Master of Music degree from the University of Chicago in 1975. The title of his thesis was The Trio Sonatas of Alessandro Stradella. In 1975 he enrolled in the doctoral program in musicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. While there he also studied harpsichord and directed a vocal ensemble for early music, the Collegium Musicum, similar to one he had begun at the University of Chicago when in the graduate program there. Michael's research for his doctoral dissertation focused on the life and works of Carlo Ambrogio Lonati (circa 1645-circa 1710-1715). It was a logical extension of his fascination with 17th century Italian music and the research he had done for his Master’s thesis concerning Lonati's colleague, Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682). His research on Lonati resulted in the publication of his biographical entry for Lonati in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980. Michael J. A. Doran passed away in March 1978.

Biographical information courtesy of Michael J. A. Doran's wife, Dr. Eve Harwood.