William Vyvyan Murray is an Australian musician - violist, arranger and composer.
His music has taken him from the inner city nights of the Melbourne funk and jazz scene through to chamber orchestras and the symphonic stages in Finland, Germany, Holland, France, Japan, Switzerland, Italy and beyond.
About
William Vyvyan Murray left moonlighting with the nightcats of Melbourne as a jazz/funk/ska pianist to pursue a life with his viola, which took him from his home in Melbourne to the UdK in Berlin and the CNSM de Paris. He performs with orchestras including the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Spira Mirabilis, the Berliner Kammerorchester, and Ensemble Reflektor.
William’s compositions are performed in solo and chamber music concerts in Europe and Australia, with his chamber music arrangements played in concerts in Japan, Singapore, Amsterdam and Berlin.
An active performer in music festivals throughout the world, William’s appearances include Kuhmo - Finland, Verbier - Switzerland, Prussia Cove - England, Accademia Chigiana and Mantova Chamber Music Festivals - Italy, and Otaru - Japan.
As a chamber musician, William appears with quartets and quintets alongside leading classical musicians Salvatore Accardo, David Geringas, Antje Weithaas, Bruno Giuranna, Rainer Honeck, Nobuko Imai, Phillipe Grafin, Richard Wolfe and Rocco Fillipini.
He holds undergraduate qualifications from UdK Berlin and Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. He was awarded two Masters degrees - the most recent from CvA Amsterdam where he worked with Nobuko Imai. At the Conservatorio della Svizzera italiana he felt privileged to be one of Bruno Giuranna’s last students.
William feels very fortunate to play on a composite viola made by Antonio and Hieronymous Amati of Cremona in 1620.
Projects
Ensemble Reflektor
Ensemble Reflektor is rapidly making a name for itself in Germany and beyond. Founded in 2015 by a group of young professionals looking to take orchestral playing to a new realm they are expanding the borders of the classical music world by performing in Clubs, Refugee Camps as well as inhabiting the traditional concert halls. They won the Max Brauer Prize in Hamburg in 2019 for their adventurous programming and exciting performances. William has been proud to count himself as one of them since the beginning of 2020.
Pynarello
Pynarello are a ‘rebel collective’ reshaping orchestral music in the Netherlands with their eclectic style. Dissatisfied with the status quo in classical music they explore a music making which is more adventurous, more direct, without sheet music and without conductors. While he lived in Amsterdam until the end of 2017 William felt lucky to be involved with the group and loves the way they expand classical music in new directions.
Silje Nes
Silje Nes produced a number of records released by Fat Cat records and performed throughout Europe, America, Africa and Asia. In the early 2010’s William performed throughout Europe with her in a trio performing works - many of which can be found here… https://fat-cat.co.uk/artist/silje-nes.These days she moves between Oslo and Berlin and in her current work explores the creation of environments that express a certain autonomy, removed from compositional processes.
Trojan Horns
During the reign of Polyester Records in Melbourne, the Trojan Horns were to be found most weekends leading the hottest dances of disaffected sorts through the city’s underworld. Regular residents at the Nightcat and The Evelyn, for almost a decade the Trojan Horns played the city’s seedier venues as well as festival’s up and down the East Coast of Australia. William played a Fender Rhodes Mark II stage piano and a Hammond organ in the band…
Viola Quartet Arrangements
This project began as a Christmas present for Nobuko Imai in 2017. William arranged some of his favourite works of Mompou for three violas. Nobuko loved it and asked him to do more for 4 violas which she then took and performed in Singapore and Japan in 2018 and has the project is heading towards an album worth of material which will be recorded in 2021…
Selected Videos
Gluck - Melodie from Orfeo Viola & Piano, "dance of the blessed spirits"
Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre - Sonata Number 1 for Violin and Clavecin - Presto, Adagio, Presto
Hart & Ziel Slotconcert 2017
Inner Workings (2019) Installation by Silje Nes at BCmA, Berlin, July 2019.
Arrangements & Compositions
William began composing in primary school at the piano, and during his teenage years churned works out for Esther and the Goye Boyz, the Trojan Horns, Loose Fit and the Bradbeer Quartet. His compositional output slowed during his studies in Berlin, Paris and Cremona but began to increase again when he moved to Amsterdam. As a 75th birthday present for Nobuko Imai he arranged a number of Federico Mompou’s solo piano works for 4 violas, which she then performed around the world. He has arranged strings for Rock and Hip hop producers and is working towards the release of a debut Album of his own compositions in 2021.