Biography – Kelly-Marie Murphy, composer

With music described as “breathtaking” (Kitchener-Waterloo Record), “imaginative and expressive” (National Post), “a pulse-pounding barrage on the senses” (The Globe and Mail), and “Bartok on steroids” (Birmingham News), composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s voice is well known on the Canadian music scene. She has created a number of memorable works for some of Canada’s leading performers and ensembles, including the Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver symphony orchestras, The Gryphon Trio, clarinetist James Campbell, cellist Cameron Crozman, violinist Kerson Leong, and harpist Judy Loman.

Kelly-Marie’s music has been performed around the world by outstanding soloists and ensembles, and interpreted by renowned conductors including Mikko Franck, Gustavo Gimeno, Alexander Shelley, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Peter Oundjian, and Gemma New. Her work has taken her to major international stages, including Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium Radio France in Paris, The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In May 2025, she joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra on its tour to Korea, and in February 2026, toured Europe with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Kelly-Marie was born on a NATO base in Sardegna, Italy, and grew up on Canadian Armed Forces bases all across Canada. She began her studies in composition at the University of Calgary, and later received a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Leeds, England. After living and working for many years in the Washington D.C. area, where she was designated “an alien of extraordinary ability” by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, she is now based in Ottawa. She is the recipient of many national and international awards, including the Jules Léger Prize and the Azrieli Music Prize. She is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Biography current as of October 2026. Please do not alter without permission

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Awards + Prizes:

2021: Winner, Vancouver Bach Choir Choral Composition Competition
2020: Winner, Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music
2018: Winner, Azrieli Music Prize
June 2017: Winner, Maria Anna Mozart Award, Symphony Nova Scotia
March 2016: Winner, Cambridge Chamber Singers International Composition Competition
December 2011: Nominee for the Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts
September 2008: Honourable Mention, Barlow Prize for Composition
May 2007: Alternate Fellow, 2007 Composer Conference, Wellesley College
January 2005: Roger D. Moore Distinguished Visitor in Composition, The University of Toronto
November 2004: Distinguished Alumni Award, The University of Calgary
January 2003: First Prize, Centara Corporation Composer’s Competition
April 2002: International Horn Society Composer’s Prize
May 2001: Paul Fleck Fellowship for residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts
April 1999: third place in the Alexander Zemlinsky Prize for Composition
October 1998: short-listed for a music award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
April 1998: first and second prizes in the Maryland Composer’s Competition, Loyola College
June 1996: 5th place at the International Rostrum of Composers; Paris
July 1995: honourable mention in the New Music Concerts Composer’s Competition; Herbert Aitken Prize
Nov. 1994: first prize and People’s Choice Award in the CBC Young Composer’s Competition; string quartet category
July 1993, 1992, 1991: Overseas Research Student Award (England)
July 1993, 1992, 1991: Tetley and Lupton Scholarship (England)
July 1993, 1992, 1991: Edward Boyle Memorial Scholarship (Leeds)
May 1993: winner of the Canadian Centennial Scholarship Fund award (London)
Nov. 1992: shortlisted for the Cornelius Cardew composition prize
July 1992: winner of the Young Composer’s Commission for Electro-Acoustic Music in Dance, The Studio, Bradford (England)
April 1992: winner of the first annual New Works Calgary Composers’ Competition