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The Irish soprano, Ann Murray, studied with Frederick Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music.
Ann Murray has established close links with both the English National Opera for whom she has sung Charlotte, Rosina, Beatrice and the title roles in George Frideric Handel's Xerxes and Ariodante and Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda, and with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Cherubino, Dorabella, Donna Elvira, Rosina, Oktavian, and new productions of L'Enfant et les Sortileges, Ariadne auf Naxos, Idomeneo, Mitridate, Re di Ponto, Cosi fan tutte, Moise in Egito, Götterdaemmerung, Alcina and Giulio Cesare.
Much sought after as a concert singer, Ann Murray has sung with the Orchestre de Paris under Rafael Kubelík, Philadelphia Orchestra under Wolfgang Sawallisch, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Georg Solti, Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam under Bernard Haitink, and in the Musikverein, Vienna, under Wolfgang Sawallisch and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. She sings in Britain with all the leading orchestras, at the BBC Promenade Concerts (where she has sung at both the First and Last Nights of the Proms), and at the major festivals.
Ann Murray's recital appearances have taken her to Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Dresden, Zürich, Frankfurt, Madrid, London, Dublin, the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Munich and Salzburg Festivals, and both the Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna. She was a founder member of Graham Johnson's The Songmakers' Almanac.
Ann Murray’s discography reflects not only her broad concert and recital repertoire but also many of her favourite operatic roles, including Purcell's Dido under Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Dorabella under James Levine, Cherubino under Riccardo Muti, Despina under Simon Rattle, Hansel under Colin Davis, Sextus under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Donna Elvira under Georg Solti.
Ann Murray’s operatic engagements have taken her to Hamburg, Dresden, Brussels, Paris, Berlin, Cologne, Zürich, Amsterdam, the Chicago Lyric Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. She is a regular guest at La Scala Milan where her roles have included Donna Elvira, Sextus, Dorabella and Cherubino under Riccardo Muti. Her commitments away from home now centre on the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera, Munich and the Salzburg Festival - in these houses her repertoire has included Cherubino, Dorabella, Sextus, Elvira, the Composer, Oktavian, Xerxes, Ariodante, Giulio Cesare and Rinaldo in Munich; Sextus, Idamantes, Cherubino, Charlotte, Rosina, Oktavian and the Composer in Vienna; Cecilio and Sextus under Cambreling, La Cenerentola under Riccardo Chailly, Nicklausse and Cherubino under James Levine, Dorabella and Donna Elvira under Riccardo Muti, and Oktavian under Lorin Maazel in Salzburg.
Recent engagements have included the title roles in new productions of Ariodante in Munich, Maria Stuarda for the English National Opera, and Alceste for the Netherlands Opera. Her engagements also include return visits to English National Opera (The Turn of the Screw), Welsh National Opera (Countess, Pique Dame), the Royal Opera (Le nozze di Figaro, Hansel und Gretel and La Fille du Regiment), the Opera de Paris (Le nozze di Figaro) and to the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Le nozze di Figaro and La Fille du regiment).
In 1997 Ann Murray was made an Honorary Doctor of Music by the National University of Ireland, in 1998 she was made a Kammersängerin of the Bavarian State Opera and in 1999 an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. In the 2002 Golden Jubilee Queen’s Birthday Honours she was appointed an honorary Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. In 2004 she was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit.
Ann Murray maintains her links with Ireland and is the Patron of the 'Young Associate Artists Programme' of the Dublin-based Opera Theatre Company. She was married to the late English tenor, Philip Langridge and has one son, Jonathan.
Ann Murray is also an acclaimed voice teacher. Among her pupils and/or singers who have attended her master-classes: Ben Alden (Tenor), Emily Armour (Soprano), Krzysztof Bączyk (Bass), Alice Bell (Mezzo-soprano), Ruairi Bowen (Tenor), Philippa Boyle (Soprano), Olivia Brett (Soprano), Laia Cortés-Calafell (Mezzo-Soprano), Sarah Denbee (Mezzo-soprano), Amaryllis Dieltiens (Soprano), Cyrille Dubois (Tenor), Emma Fekete (Soprano), Aaron Godfrey-Mayes (Tenor), Robbie Haylett (Baritone), Tom Herring (Bass-Baritone), Oliver Hunt (Bass), Christiane Karg (Soprano), Dominik Köninger (Baritone), Barbara Kozelj (Mezzo-soprano), Ariana Maubach (Mezzo-soprano), Brynne McLeod (Mezzo-soprano), Ludwig Mittelhammer (Baritone), Rosina Fabius (Mezzo-soprano), Michał Partyka (Baritone), Natalie Pérez
(Mezzo-soprano, Soprano), Simon Ponsford (Counter-tenor), Mitch Raemaekers (Tenor), Felix Rathgeber (Bass-Baritone), Richard Robbins (Tenor), Lucy Roberts (Soprano), Maximilian Schmitt (Tenor), Pauline Stöhr (Contralto/Mezzo-soprano), Gunther Vandeven (Counter-tenor), Hadewijch Voorn (Soprano). |
