Murray, Ann
Murray, Ann
Murray, Ann, Irish mezzo-soprano; b. Dublin, Aug. 27, 1949. She studied at the Royal Manchester Coll. of Music and in London. In 1974 she made her operatic debut as Alceste at Glasgow’s Scottish Opera, and then appeared regularly at London’s English National Opera; in 1976 she made her Covent Garden debut in London as Cherubino, and subsequently sang there frequently. On Oct. 18, 1985, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Sextus in La clemenza di Tito. In 1990 she scored a notable success as Berlioz’s Beatrice with the English National Opera. In 1994 she appeared as Giulio Cesare in Munich. She appeared as Xerxes at the Lyric Opera in Chicago in 1995. In 1997 she sang Giulio Cesare at Covent Garden. She also sang as a guest artist with various opera houses and festivals at home and abroad, and likewise pursued a notably successful career as a concert artist. Among her finest roles are Handel’s Xerxes, Mozart’s Dorabella and Zer-lina, and Strauss’s Composer. Her husband is Philip Langridge.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire