To celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2014, the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival has commissioned Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy to compose a new work for piano quintet to be performed by the Lafayette String Quartet and Alexander Tselyakov, Pianist and Artistic Director at our Chamber Music Festival in Aug 2014.
Kelly-Marie Murphy grew up on Armed Forces bases all across Canada. She began her studies in composition at the University of Calgary and later received a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Leeds in England. She is now based in Ottawa.
Dr. Murphy has completed short residencies at the Snowbird Institute for the Arts, Utah; Tapestry Music Theatre/Canadian Opera Company, Toronto; rESOund Festival of Contemporary Music, Edmonton; Strings of the Future International String Quartet Festival, Ottawa; Soundstreams/Encounters, Toronto; and at the Banff Centre for the Arts. In 2004 Dr. Murphy was honoured with The Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Calgary, and in 2005 as the Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition from the University of Toronto. Most recently, Dr. Murphy was granted the distinction of Honorable Mention in the 2008 Barlow Prize for composition.
Dr. Murphy’s music has been performed in the UK, Japan, across Europe, and throughout North America by outstanding soloists and ensembles, and has had radio broadcasts in 22 countries. Her music has been interpreted by renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, David Brophy, and Mario Bernardi. She is the recipient of many commissions from the CBC and the Canada Council for the Arts, and has written for some of Canada’s leading performers and ensembles such as the Winnipeg, Toronto, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Shauna Rolston, James Campbell, the Gryphon Trio, Borealis String Quartet, Rivka Golani, Judy Loman, and James Sommerville. (www.kelleymariemurphy.com).
Selected Works:
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- Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly (1997). Piano trio. Commissioned by the Gryphon Trio
- Postcards From Home (2000). Violin, clarinet, piano. Commissioned by the Music Canada 2000 Fund for James Campbell and the Festival of the Sound
- Departures and Deviations (2001). Violin, horn, piano. Commissioned by the CBC for Ottawa Chamber Music Festival
- Living Metal, Continuous Poses (2003). String quartet. Commissioned by the Molinari Quartet through the Canada Council for the Arts
- Ashes (2007). String quartet. Commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music
- Signals (2009). 9 brass instruments. Commissioned by the Ottawa Chamber Music Society with support from Roger D. Moore
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In 2010 the Gryphon Trio performed Kelly Marie Murphy’s “Give Me Phoenix Wings to Fly” at our Chamber Music Festival, and in 2011 the Borealis String Quartet performed Murphy’s “Ashes”. Summing up the reaction of many, an audience member initially responded to a survey question regarding new &/or non-traditional music performances with “…sorry I’m a traditionalist…” later adding in different coloured ink “OK, I just changed my mind. More Kelly-Marie Murphy would be great.”
The Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival thanks the BC Arts Council and the Sunshine Coast Community Foundation for the grant assistance they have provided, which has made this commission possible.