Michael Murray

American organist Michael Murray was best recognized for his many strong-selling recordings on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Telarc%22">Telarc</a> label. His playing was noted for its stunning but natural technique and his musical intuition. Murray has also distinguished himself as a scholar and author.

Murray attended Butler University and Oberlin College, where he studied with Haskell Thomson, and <a href="spotify:artist:1wyuV2UwDaVUPcvuC8YG68">Marcel Dupré</a> between 1961 and 1965. He made his performance debut in a series of 12 recitals in Cleveland during the 1968-1969 season, playing all of <a href="spotify:artist:5aIqB5nVVvmFsvSdExz408">Bach</a>'s organ works. His European debut was on the Galtus and Garmer van Hagerbeer organ, built in 1642, at Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1972. That was also the year that he performed all the organ works of <a href="spotify:artist:1C3sffOOvQNUwg4YIsvKqy">César Franck</a> and made his first recording for what would become the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Telarc%22">Telarc</a> label. He performed on organs throughout the U.S. and Europe, dedicating and re-dedicating many instruments. Murray was a soloist with the <a href="spotify:artist:6TD08jYeuN128P2MZTbc8E">Chicago Symphony</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:6tdexW8bZTG8NgOFUCYQn1">Philadelphia Orchestra</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:1qHStDLIc8uV7hvTG6FGRJ">San Francisco Symphony</a>, and the <a href="spotify:artist:4Ty9IkZ89a93AEwhLGTjo6">Atlanta Symphony</a>, to name just a few of his guest appearances. He played the organs of St. Bavo's in Haarlem, St. Ouen in Rouen, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Salisbury Cathedral, and the Royal Albert Hall for some of his recordings. To celebrate 30 years with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Telarc%22">Telarc</a>, Murray recorded a recital of <a href="spotify:artist:1wyuV2UwDaVUPcvuC8YG68">Dupré</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1C3sffOOvQNUwg4YIsvKqy">Franck</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:6wgviqppMkEUf4p2WJ2uVa">Widor</a> on the same organ the composers played, that of St. Sulpice in Paris. In addition to hosting radio interviews with fellow musicians and authors, and writing numerous articles for Diapason and The American Organist, he published five books. His first, Marcel Dupré: The Work of a Master Organist, from 1985, was the first major publication about the composer's life and work. He followed this up with one about <a href="spotify:artist:4n3YrsJmeY6qTYJyGwGCRI">Albert Schweitzer</a>'s musical life and the 1998 French Masters of the Organ. Murray was on the staff of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, between 1994 and 2014 and served on the advisory board to the <a href="spotify:artist:4n3YrsJmeY6qTYJyGwGCRI">Schweitzer</a> Institute for the Humanities. In 2000, he received an honorary doctorate from Ohio State University, where he also a music librarian. His last book was on the life of Jacques Barzun, published in 2011. He retired from performing around 2014, and died ten years later, on September 1, 2024. ~ Patsy Morita, Rovi