Ann Murray

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Final curtain call of the Metropolitan Opera's 24 December 2011 performance of La fille du regiment (l to r) Lawrence Brownlee (Tonio), Nino Machaidze (Marie), and Ann Murray (Marquise) Curtain Call (6766562451).jpg
Final curtain call of the Metropolitan Opera's 24 December 2011 performance of La fille du régiment (l to r) Lawrence Brownlee (Tonio), Nino Machaidze (Marie), and Ann Murray (Marquise)

Ann Murray (born 27 August 1949) is an Irish mezzo-soprano. [1]

Contents

Life and career

Murray was born in Dublin. Having won a number of prizes at the Feis Ceoil, she studied singing at the College of Music (now the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin) with Nancy Calthorpe, as well as arts and music at University College Dublin. In 1968, she made her Irish opera debut performing the shepherd role in a concert performance of Tosca . [2] She pursued further studies with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974. Murray made her debut in 1981 at the Salzburg and the Zurich Festivals. [3] She has since sung at all major opera houses and is particularly noted for her performances in works by George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss.[ citation needed ]

Murray performs mainly at Covent Garden (where she performed as Siphare in Mozart's Mitridate, re di Ponto ), the English National Opera and the Bavarian State Opera. Murray was the featured singer in volume three of the Hyperion Schubert Edition, Hyperion Records' complete Franz Schubert lieder project, in 1988, led by pianist Graham Johnson.[ citation needed ]

She maintains her links with Ireland and was a patron of the Young Associate Artists Programme of Dublin's Opera Theatre Company.[ citation needed ] In September 2010, she was appointed professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, [4] where she was previously (since 1999) an honorary fellow. [5]

Awards and honours

She received an honorary doctorate in music from the National University of Ireland in 1997. [5] She was made Bavarian Kammersängerin in 1998.

In 2002, she was made an Honorary Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Diamond Jubilee Honours for her services to music. [6]

She was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2004. [5]

Personal life

Murray was married to the late English tenor, Philip Langridge. The couple had one son, Jonathan, also a tenor. [7]

Recordings

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Macy, Laura Williams (ed.) (2008). The Grove Book of Opera Singers, pp. 334–335. Oxford University Press. ISBN   0195337654
  2. ↑ Foregoing info based on Axel Klein: "Murray, Ann", in: The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, ed. by Harry White and Barra Boydell (Dublin: UCD Press, 2013), p. 697–699.
  3. ↑ De Breffny, Brian (1983). Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 159.
  4. ↑ "New Appointments". Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 Ann Murray at the Royal Academy of Music. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  6. ↑ Artist page at Askonas Holt Ltd. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
  7. ↑ Millington, Barry, "Philip Langridge Obituary: Leading British tenor committed to the theatrical dimension of the operatic stage" The Guardian, 7 March 2010
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