Karen Murray |
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Violinist
Irish violinist Karen Murray has won international acclaim as violinst and champion of the virtuoso – violinistic interpretation of the typically Viennese as well as Irish classical music tradition. She has performed in major european cities, all over Asia and in special performances in the U.S. where she made her american debut performing for Crown Prince Albert of Monaco in New York City.
Ms. Murray was born in Cork, Ireland and began her violin studies at the Cork School of Music. She is first prize winner of the Mozart Concerto Competition and the Solo Bach Competition, Ireland. She persued her studies further at the Vienna Conservatory of Music and graduated successfully in Solo violin performance.
Following her studies she was awarded the Hugo Breitner Award for artistic excellence from the City of Vienna. Ms. Murray frequently toured in Asia with various viennese ensembles and these engagements lead to an invitation to perform on the original Johann Strauss violin, Amati 1615, on the occasion of its official return to Vienna after several decades. Ms. Murray's performance on this instrument was covered by National Television, Austria (ORF) and by all major newspapers.
In 1997 Karen Murray was invited by the Irish Chamber of Commerce, U.S.A. to perform a series of concerts in New York City on the Johann Strauss violin and following the success of these concerts she was sponsored by the Allied Irish Bank, NYC to make the first available solo CD recording on this instrument. The CD presentation took place at the Allied Irish Bank, NYC, on St. Patrick’s Day 1998.
Ms. Murray’s music has been broadcasted by many radio stations, including Irish Radio, NYC (The Adrian Flannelly Show), NPR, U.S.A., RTE (Radio Telefis Eireann) Ireland, where an entire program was dedicated to Ms. Murray’s work and most recently on NHK, Japan.
In October 2004 Ms. Murray toured to Japan as Soloist with the “Vienna Soloists Ensemble” which was managed by her agent Rudolf Buchmann, Künstlersekretatiat Buchmann, Vienna. On the occasion of this tour Karen Murray gave a press conference at the Austrian Embassy, Tokyo, which was covered by major japanese newspapers and CD magazines.
Ms. Murray received huge acclaim very recently from her performance of her own arrangements of irish music with the "Celtic Pops Orchestra" on St. Patrick's Day in Vienna under the patronage of Lord Mayor Dr. Michael Häupl. This performance was broadcasted live on Austrian National Radio (ORF) and was also featured on austrian television.
In Autumn 2007 Karen Murray will be touring the United States.