Bruce Murray has enjoyed a varied career as a pianist, teacher, writer, presenter, arts administrator, and technologist. He has given more than a thousand public performances in almost every capacity imaginable: recitalist, soloist with orchestra, collaborative and chamber player, broadcaster, podcaster, et al. His many artistic partnerships have included notable performers, including violinist/conductor Andres Cardenes, mezzo Frederica von Stade, violist Roberto Diaz, clarinetists Ricardo Morales and Michael Collins, flutists Ransom Wilson and Carol Wincenc, hornist Michael Thompson, tuba soloist Øystein Baadsvik, and conductors Louis Lane, Matthias Bamert, Keith Lockhart, and David Effron.
Murray grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied piano with Nelson Whitaker. He received a master’s degree and doctorate from Yale University; his teachers included Ward Davenny and Claude Frank. He was a faculty member at the University of Alabama for two decades and spent his final five years as Director of the School of Music. He established a close affiliation with the Alabama Symphony and appeared as concerto soloist with that orchestra seventeen times.
From Alabama Murray moved to North Carolina to assume a leadership role at the Brevard Music Center, a major summer music institute and festival. He spent ten years at Brfevard, then joined the faculty of Miami University in Ohio, where he chaired the Music Department for five years. His interest in digital media led him to accept an invitation to teach in the school’s cross-disciplinary Department of Emerging Technology, where he has been exploring new channels for artistic expression.
Murray’s concert activity has extended throughout the United States, Europe, and South America. In recent years he has focused on “democratizing” classical music, by expanding the piano repertoire (revealing neglected works by neglected composers) and by making concerts accessible to all parts of the community. In 2017 he was named Oxford (Ohio) Citizen of the Year in recognition of his summer series of six free piano recitals. He was Citizen of the Year again in 2021 as performer and producer of “Musical Snacks,” a series of 52 music videos he created during the pandemic lockdown.
Bruce Murray is a Steinway Artist.
