Graeme Murphy
Graeme Murphy (born 2 November 1950) is an Australian dance choreographer. Together with his fellow dancer (and wife since 2004) Janet Vernon, he has guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and well-known dance companies.
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[edit] Biography
Murphy was born in Melbourne, and grew up in Tasmania, where he took dance classes with Kenneth Gillespie in Launceston. He began his career as a student at the Australian Ballet School at the age of fourteen. In 1968 he became a dancer with the Australian Ballet where he had opportunities to choreograph. He toured America with the Australian Ballet in 1970–1971 and created his first ballet, Ecco le Diavole (Ecco), to music by Nino Rota, presented at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in July 1971, featuring Roslyn Anderson, Roma Egan, Janet Vernon, and Wendy Walker.[1]
The work was presented by the Australian Ballet Society at the Princess Theatre, Melbourne in July of that year. He later danced with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (now Birmingham Royal Ballet), and Les Ballets Félix Blaska in France. In 1975 he worked as a freelance choreographer. He rejoined the Australian Ballet in the early months of 1976 as both a dancer and as a resident choreographer. He was appointed as Artistic Director of the Dance Company of New South Wales in November 1976 (in 1979 this company became the Sydney Dance Company).
Murphy has been compared to the dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins because of the way he and his company have marketed dance to a wider audience, and brought contemporary dance into a more commercial arena.
On 18 December 2004, after almost 40 years together as artistic and life partners, he and Janet Vernon married on their rural property outside Launceston.[2]
[edit] List of works
- After Venice (1984; set to Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie and Gustav Mahler's 5th Symphony: Adagietto)[3][4]
- Afterworlds (1987)[4]
- Aida (2009; for Opera Australia)[4]
- Air and Other Invisible Forces (1999; Michael Askill and Giya Kancheli)[5]
- Bard Bits (1991; Cleo Laine and John Dankworth)[4]
- Beauty and the Beast (1993; Carl Vine, Phil Buckle and Jack Jones)[4]
- Berlin (Iva Davies and Max Lambert, based on material by Lou Reed, Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, David Byrne and others))[6]
- Beyond Twelve (1980; set to Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto in G)[7]
- Body of Work (2000)[4]
- Boxes (1985; with Bob Kretschmer; music by Iva Davies and Kretschmer)[4][8]
- Daphnis and Chloé (1980; Ravel)[4]
- Deadly Sins (1984; Lambert)[4]
- The Director's Cut (2006; Paul Healy, Huey Benjamin, Margaret Sutherland)[4]
- A Doll's House Story (Istvan Marta)
- Drill (Steve Martland)
- Ecco le Diavole (1971; Nino Rota)[9]
- Ellipse (2002; Matthew Hindson)[4]
- Embodied (1996; Alfred Schnittke)[4]
- An Evening (1981)[4]
- Evening Suite (1989)[4]
- Ever After Ever (2007; Carl Vine, Giya Kancheli, Graeme Koehne, Matthew Hindson, Iva Davies, Max Lambert, Linda Nagle)[4]
- Fire Earth Air Water (1977; John Tavener)[4]
- Flashbacks (1983)[4]
- Fornicon (1995; Martin Armiger)[4]
- Free Radicals (1996; Michael Askill)[4]
- Glimpses (1977; Margaret Sutherland)[4]
- Grand (2005; Scott Davie)[4]
- Hate (1982; Carl Vine)[4]
- Homelands (1982: Leoš Janáček)[4]
- Hua Mulan (2005; Michael Askill)[4]
- In the Company of Women (1990; with Paul Mercurio)[4]
- King Roger (1990; Karol Szymanowski)[4]
- Kraanerg (1988; Iannis Xenakis)[4]
- Late Afternoon of a Faun (1987)[4]
- Limited Edition (1982; Graeme Koehne)[4]
- Mythes (Szymanowski)
- Mythologia (2000; Carl Vine)[4]
- Nearly Beloved (1986; Graeme Koehne)[4]
- Nutcracker: the Story of Clara (2009–1992 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky; for the Australian Ballet)
- Papillon Duet (1977; Jacques Offenbach)[4]
- Party (1998: Michael and Daniel Askill)[4]
- Piano Sonata (1992; Carl Vine)[4]
- Poppy (1978; Carl Vine)[4]
- The Protecting Veil (1993; John Tavener)[4]
- Radical Study (1996)[4]
- Romeo and Juliet (2011 Sergei Prokofiev; for the Australian Ballet)
- Rumours (1978–1979; Barry Conyngham)[4]
- Salome (Michael Askill)[4]
- Scintillation (1977; Carlos Salzedo)[4]
- The Selfish Giant (1983; Graeme Koehne)[4]
- Sensing (1994; Ross Edwards)[4]
- Sequenza VII (1977; Luciano Berio)[4]
- Shades of Gray (2005)[4]
- Shéhérazade (1979; Ravel)[4]
- Shining (1986; Szymanowski)[10]
- Signatures (1979; Alexander Scriabin)[4]
- Sirens (1985; with 4 other choreographers)[4]
- Soft Bruising (1990; with Steve Martland; music by Gavin Bryars)[4]
- Some Rooms (1983; Keith Jarrett, Joseph Canteloube, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber)[4]
- Song of the Night (1989; Szymanowski)[4]
- Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky; for the Australian Ballet)
- Synergy with Synergy (1992; Michael Askill, John Cage, Elliott Carter, Ross Edwards, Istvan Marta and Nigel Westlake)[9]
- Third Conversation (1977; Béla Bartók)[4]
- Tip (1977; Carl Vine)[4]
- Tivoli (2001; Graeme Koehne)[4]
- The Trojans (1994; Hector Berlioz)[4]
- Turandot (Giacomo Puccini; for Opera Australia)
- Up (1977; György Ligeti)[4]
- Vast (1988; Barry Conyngham)[4]
- Viridian (1980; Richard Meale)[4]
- Volumina (1977; Ligeti)[4]
- Water (2009; for The Shanghai Ballet)[4]
- Wilderness (1982; Bartók)[4]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.australiadancing.org/subjects/47.html
- ^ Jane Albert, Couple to wed... after dancing around it for 40 years, Weekend Australian, 18–19 December 2004
- ^ Australia Dancing: After Venice
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh Sydney Dance Company: Complete Repertoire
- ^ Sydney Dance Company: Air and Other Invisible Forces
- ^ Sydney Dance Company: Berlin
- ^ Australian Dancing: Beyond Twelve
- ^ Australia Dancing: Boxes
- ^ a b Australia Dancing: Graeme Murphy
- ^ Australian Dancing: Shining
