Michael Murray

Recognized above all for his numerous commercially successful Telarc recordings, American organist Michael Murray earned praise for a technique that combined brilliance with naturalness and for an instinctive grasp of musical phrasing. He further distinguished himself through scholarship and authorship.

His training included studies at Butler University and Oberlin College with Haskell Thomson, followed by work with Marcel Dupré from 1961 to 1965. Twelve recitals presented in Cleveland during the 1968-1969 season marked his performance debut and featured the complete organ works of Bach. His first European appearance took place in 1972 on the 1642 Galtus and Garmer van Hagerbeer organ at Leiden University in the Netherlands; that same year he performed the full organ output of César Franck and produced his initial recording for the label that later became Telarc.

Murray appeared on instruments across the United States and Europe, often participating in dedications and rededications of historic organs. Guest engagements included solo appearances with the Chicago Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Atlanta Symphony, among others. Recordings captured him on the organs of St. Bavo’s in Haarlem, St. Ouen in Rouen, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Salisbury Cathedral, and the Royal Albert Hall. Marking three decades with Telarc, he returned to the organ at St. Sulpice in Paris—the instrument used by Dupré, Franck, and Widor themselves—for a program devoted to those composers.

Beyond performing, Murray conducted radio interviews with musicians and writers, contributed articles to Diapason and The American Organist, and authored five books. The first, Marcel Dupré: The Work of a Master Organist (1985), offered the initial extended study of the composer’s career. Subsequent volumes examined Albert Schweitzer’s musical activities and, in 1998, French Masters of the Organ. From 1994 to 2014 he served on the staff of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio, and also joined the advisory board of the Schweitzer Institute for the Humanities. Ohio State University awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2000; he later worked there as a music librarian. His final book, a biography of Jacques Barzun, appeared in 2011. Murray withdrew from the concert stage around 2014 and died on September 1, 2024.