Heidi Grant Murphy, soprano
A shimmering soprano with enchanting stage presence, Heidi Grant Murphy is one of the outstanding vocal talents of her generation. A native of Bellingham, Washington, she began vocal studies while attending Western Washington and Indiana Universities. Her graduate studies were interrupted when she was named a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and engaged by Maestro James Levine to participate in the Metropolitan Opera's Young Artist Development Program. Today, Ms. Murphy has established a reputation not only for her radiant musicianship and impeccable vocal technique, but also for her warm personality and generosity of spirit. "Ms. Grant Murphy was beautifully, serenely and wonderfully consistent. And she, too, shone. She produced phrases that were finely sustained, and yet each note seemed to have a shape of its own, floating out from or into silence." (The New York Times)
Heidi Grant Murphy has appeared with many of the world's finest opera companies and symphony orchestras, notably the Metropolitan Opera, Salzburg Festival, Frankfurt Opera, Netherlands Opera, Theatre Royal de la Monnaie, Opera National de Paris, and Santa Fe Opera. She has been engaged as soloist with the Vienna, New York, and Los Angeles Philharmonics; Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras; and Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Atlanta, St. Louis, Houston, Montreal, National, and Dallas Symphonies. Ms. Murphy has worked with such esteemed conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, James Levine, Reinbert de Leeuw, Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, Kent Nagano, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Simon Rattle, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Jeffery Tate, Michael Tilson Thomas, Edo de Waart, Christoph Von Dohnanyi, David Zinman, Pinchas Zukerman, and the late Robert Shaw.
Ms. Murphy's Metropolitan Opera debut in the 1989 production of Die Frau Ohne Schatten has led to numerous roles in that prestigious opera house, notably Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Pamina in Die Zauberflote, Sister Constance in Dialogues of the Carmelites, Servilia in Clemenza di Tito, and Nanetta in Falstaff. European highlights include the roles of Anne Truelove in the Netherlands' Opera production of The Rake's Progress and Celia in Lucio Silla at both the Salzburg Festival and Frankfurt Opera; and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro and Adina in L'Elisir d'Amor at the Opera Nationale de Paris.
Ms. Murphy's 2006-2007 performance season displayrf her orchestral, operatic, and chamber music vocal talents throughout the United States and abroad. After performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood Music Festival this summer in Mozart's Don Giovanni conducted by James Levine and Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony No. 2 in C minor (led by Seiji Ozawa), the soprano launched her season with the New York Philharmonic and Lorin Maazel, in Mozart's admired Exsultate jubilate and Mahler's heavenly Symphony No. 4. Ms. Murphy then traveled to the Opera Nationale de Paris for two productions: Adina in Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amor (her second time performing this role in 2006) and Sophie in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier. She returned to the US for the concluding performances of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's annual Mozart festival, singing Mozart's Requiem, K. 626 under the direction of Peter Oundjian. She sang Sister Genevieve in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Il Trittico (Soeur Angelica) and Amor in Orpheus & Euridice, both conducted by James Levine. She gave recitals at St. Cecilia Music Society in Grand Rapids, MI and the University of Central Arkansas. The summer brings Ms. Murphy to both the Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Munich Festival.
In Spring 2007, Ms. Murphy joined the St. Lawrence String Quartet and pianist Kevin Murphy on a nationwide tour to premiere Songs from the Diaspora, a song cycle by Roberto Sierra commissioned by the Consortium Music Accord. Performances were given at the Cornell Concert Series, Penn State University, University of Maryland, Georgia's Spivey Hall, San Francisco Performances, Chamber Music Northwest (Portland, OR), La Jolla Music Society, and the Dallas Chamber Music Society. The tour will continue in November of 2007, including the November 14 performance at CMS.
In recent seasons, Ms. Murphy premiered Roberto Sierra's Missa Latina with the National Symphony Orchestra as well as Augusta Read Thomas's Gathering Paradise with both the New York Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2004 she joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Maestro Levine's inaugural concerts as Music Director at both Boston's Symphony Hall and New York's Carnegie Hall, and performed Kaija Saariaho's Cinq Reflets de L'Amour de loin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Other orchestral appearances include the Cleveland Orchestra, Columbus and Dallas Symphony Orchestras and performances of Roberto Sierra's Beyond the Silence of Sorrow with the Seattle and New Mexico Symphony Orchestras. She gave operatic performances as Titania in Midsummer's Night Dream at Madrid Opera. Ms. Murphy's summers have brought her to the Ravinia and Tanglewood Festivals, Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest, Bellingham Festival of Music, Rome Chamber Music Festival, Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest.
In 2004, Koch released Suenos de Amor, a disc of Latin love songs including commissioned works by Roberto Sierra, and cultural classics, as well as a holiday disc titled The Gifts of Christmas. In March 2003, Koch International released Times Like This, showcasing Ms. Murphy's musical theater repertoire. In reviewing the disc, the Seattle Times noted that the "gleaming purity and warmth of tone make Ms. Murphy's voice the aural equivalent of candlelight." Additionally, the Delos label recently released her recording of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with Andrew Litton conducting the Dallas Symphony. Of Clearings in the Sky, an Arabesque disc of Lili Boulanger and Rachmaninoff works, Gramophone Magazine wrote: "Murphy's crystalline soprano and expressive generosity prove an ideal combination to bring this varied repertoire together;" and of the Koch recording of Sir John Tavener's To a Child Dancing in the Wind and Sir Harrison Birtwistle's Sappho Fragments, Gramophone praised: "Murphy, whose heavenly shimmer tempered with a touch of earthly expression, makes a wonderfully nuanced presence." Additional recording projects include Vincent Youmans's Through the Years for PS Classics; Twilight and Innocence, a recital disc for Arabesque; Mahler's Symphony No. 2 for Delos; Bach repertoire for Arabesque; Idomeneo (Ilia) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Barbarina) with James Levine on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and the Grammy-nominated Sweeney Todd (Johanna) for the New York Philharmonic's private label. In 2006, a recording of Augusta Read Thomas' Gathering Paradise featuring Ms. Murphy was recorded with the New York Philharmonic on New World, a label intended to preserve the orchestra's recent premieres.
Heidi Grant Murphy lives in New York City with her husband Kevin Murphy and their four children. She has been a featured guest on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered, A&E's Breakfast with the Arts and BBC Radio 3. In October 2005, Ms. Murphy received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Western Washington University, where she pursued a bachelor's degree in music performance.
Heidi Grant Murphy
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photo credit: Christian Steiner