With his calm authority and clear, expressive technique, British conductor Tim Murray has a growing international reputation as a conductor of opera, ballet and contemporary repertoire. Of Asian and white heritage, he has worked for prestigious companies in Europe, Asia and South Africa. From 2015-2019 he was Associate Music Director of Cape Town Opera, and from 2006-2011 Music Director of the experimental opera company Tête à Tête, conducting 22 world premieres. He was a ‘Newcomer’ finalist in the International Opera Awards.
He has made important connections with several European theatres in recent seasons, and has conducted West Side Story for Royal Danish Opera, Blixen, Carmen and Et Folkesagn for Royal Danish Ballet, Hindemith’s Cardillac for Polish National Opera, Street Scene at Oper Köln and Teatro Real Madrid, and George Benjamin’s Into the Little Hill, also for the Teatro Real Madrid.
During his time with Cape Town Opera he had success with core operatic repertoire, such as Der fliegende Holländer, Orphée et Eurydice, The Merry Widow and Carmen, as well as with touring projects: Porgy and Bess in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Barcelona, Bordeaux and the UK, and Mandela Trilogy, which opened the 2016 International Orchestral Series at the Royal Festival Hall to great acclaim, and toured to the UK, Italy, Dubai and Hong Kong.
He has a long-standing relationship with the Royal Ballet and Opera, having conducted for both companies in the Linbury Studio Theatre during his early years, as well as working on the music staff for main stage opera productions. More recently he gave the world premieres of Charlotte Bray’s Out of the Ruins, The Doctor’s Tale (with the late Terry Jones) and Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest, and has worked closely with Mark-Anthony Turnage on his three ROH commissions: Anna Nicole, Coraline and Festen.
Selected by Vladimir Jurowski to be his regular assistant with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Murray has an ongoing relationship with the orchestra. At Jurowski’s invitation he conducted concerts as part of Changing Faces – Stravinsky’s Journey, as well as music from Theresienstadt, film screenings and a televised concert from Wembley Stadium. His other concert work includes Beethoven with Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Dark Mirror: Zender’s Winterreise with the Shanghai Opera Symphony Orchestra, A Child of our Time with the Orquesta y Coro de Radio Televisión Española, and concerts with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Philharmonia Orchestra, Cape Town Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chroma Ensemble, Beethoven Academy Orchestra and BBC Singers.
Murray works frequently with some of the world's leading ballet companies. His close relationship with the renowned choreographer Wayne McGregor led to his 2014 debuts with the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden and Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, as well as the premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Undance with Random Dance, also recorded for NMC Records. He returned to Royal Ballet for a Triple Bill with music by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Seiber and Bosso, and to conduct the Royal Ballet School summer gala. Other ballet projects include a Triple Bill for Hong Kong City Ballet (with the Hong Kong Philharmonic), The Soldier’s Tale in Tokyo and Osaka, and Spring and Fall and The Rite of Spring for Hamburg/Cape Town City Ballet. He was a regular guest conductor with Rambert Dance Company.
Murray studied at Cambridge University, Royal College of Music, Tanglewood Music Center and with Oliver Knussen at the Britten-Pears School.