William A. Murphy, will be a first year doctoral student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying.  He was awarded a Teaching Assistantship in the Lyric Theatre and will be a rehearsal pianist for opera and music theatre productions.  

 

He recently completed his seventh year as Staff Accompanist at Morehead State University.  While at MSU, he has worked with many students preparing for degree recitals, ensemble concerts, opera and musical Productions.  He has given several performances with outstanding faculty on campus and off campus as a guest artist with performances at Berry College, Rome, GA, the University of Louisville and Marshall University in Huntington, WV.  In March of 2018, a World Premiere performance of Carter Pann's "Giantess" for Flute and Piano was presented at Morehead State University.   Additional performances have been heard at the KMEA conference in 2017, North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) in 2018, Flute Society of Kentucky in the springs of 2019 and 2023, the International Trombone Festival (ITF) in the summer of 2019 and most recently, the Falcone International Tuba Euphonium Festival in the summer of 2021.  He can also be heard as a performer on the debut album "Bootleg" with bass trombonist Russ Zokaites (recorded in 2020 on the Centaur Records label).  Other artist collaborations include soprano Marlayna Maynard, Nashville, TN; Soprano Alexandra LoBianco, Metropolitan Opera Artist; clarinetist Rob Patterson, Boston University; and several choral clinicians. 

 

Previous to his position at MSU, he was an adjunct faculty member at Marshall University starting in January 2013 that involved many roles of education and collaboration.  Those roles included teaching private applied voice, theory and aural skills, class piano, directing the Choral Union, and pianist/coach for the Opera Workshop. 

Since April 2010, he has been the Organist at St. John's Episcopal Church in Huntington and in 2013, he received the Colleague Certificate from the American Guild of Organists.  In addition to this position, he was the pianist/organist for the West Virginia Symphony Chorus in Charleston for eight years, performing large choral works including Messiah (Handel), Ein Deutches Requiem (Brahms), The Ballad of William Sycamore (Stevens), and Weinachts-Oratorium (Bach) and most recently Requiem (Duruflé).  During the summer months, he has been employed for the WV Governor’s School for the Arts since 2021 working with the Vocal Arts students.  

 

Upon arrival in Champaign in August 2023, he will be the choirmaster at Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church. 

He is a graduate of Marshall University (2012) with a Master of Arts in Performance (Piano).  He received a Bachelor's of Music in Voice Performance with Cum Laude honors from Morehead State University (2009).  He participated as a student and accompanist for the participants of the Kentucky Institute for International Studies (KIIS) program in Salzburg, Austria (Summers 2007 and 2009).  He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and American Guild of Organists (AGO).