Rate My Professor Ken Murray

Professor Ken Murray is Professor and Associate Director (Research and Research Training) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne. He serves as Head of Guitar, leading the comprehensive guitar program that emphasizes classical studies in Spanish, South American, and Australian music, as well as contemporary guitar. With over twenty years of teaching experience domestically and internationally, including at Xavier College, Murray also coordinates the annual Guitar Perspectives concert series and delivers the popular breadth subject "Riffs: Guitar Cultures and Practice." He holds a Master of Music and a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where he studied guitar under John Griffiths, Susan Ellis, and Michael Christoforidis, and participated in masterclasses with renowned guitarists such as Leo Brouwer, Manuel Barrueco, and David Russell. His academic research focuses on the evolution of guitar cultures in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the reception of Spanish music in London from 1878 to 1930, Percy Grainger, and Manuel de Falla.

Murray has authored several key publications, including "Spanish music and its representations in London (1878-1930): from the exotic to the modern" (2013), "The Hispanic Grainger: Encounters with the Modern Spanish School" (2015, with M. Christoforidis), "Manuel de Falla's Homenajes for orchestra" (1992), and "'From an Andalusian Point of View': Manuel de Falla's Compositional Advice to Angel Barrios" (1996). As a performer and composer, he has premiered over 100 contemporary works, collaborating with composers like Matthew Hindson, Stuart Greenbaum, and Thomas Reiner. His recordings include the acclaimed CD "Homenaje" (2003) featuring music of Manuel de Falla and contemporaries, released on labels such as Kairos, Mode Records, Move, and ABC Classics. Broadcast on ABC FM, Murray has performed with ensembles including the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and Elision, and in duos with artists like Doug de Vries. He has toured to Portugal, Spain, England, and the Netherlands, and received commissions from the Santo Tirso International Guitar Festival and the Suzuki Association of Victoria.