Lucy Miller Murray, Founder of Market Square Concerts, Founder of Market Square Concerts, inspired the artistic excellence of the chamber music series for 27 years. Her commitment to new music and emerging artists balanced Market Square Concerts’ presentation of great traditional repertoire and internationally acclaimed ensembles and soloists. Her other chamber music associations have included board membership of Market Square Concerts, the Bard Music Festival, Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP), and Concert Artists Guild. She also served as vice president and board member of Chamber Music America, the national service organization for chamber music.

Lucy Miller Murray is author of Chamber Music: An Extensive Guide for Listeners published by Rowman & Littlefield. She is a regular program annotator for Market Square Concerts and other chamber music series across the country including the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois where she has written notes for programs by such luminaries as Joshua Bell, Frederica von Stade, and the London Philharmonic.

Her liner notes for many recordings include the Ying Quartet’s Grammy-nominated Tchaikovsky Telarc CD, the Lark Quartet’s Klap Ur Handz for Endeavor Classics, Maria Bachmann’s The Red Violin,Trio Solisti’s Café Music for Bridge Records, the Fine Arts Quartet’s Schumann recording on the Naxos label, and Xiayin Wang’s Chandos recording of piano works by Earl Wild. She has also written liner notes for the Mendelssohn Piano Trio’s recordings of the complete Haydn piano trios and for Ronald Leonard’s and Ya-Ting Chang’s recording of cello and piano works by Grieg, Dohnányi, and Chopin for Centaur Records. She also provided notes for actor Bill Murray’s world-wide tour New Worlds with cellist Jan Vogler and Friends. About her liner notes, Gramophone has commented, “elegantly written and perfectly attuned to the performances...”

Her articles on music have been published in Chamber Music magazine, the national publication of Chamber Music America, in Philadelphia Music Makers, and in the American Music Center’s online publication, New Music Box. Her fiction has appeared in Prism International and Phase and received awards from WITF, Central Pennsylvania’s National Public Radio affiliate. Her novel, Faces, was published in 2020 by Dorrance Publishing. Composers Michael Brown, Jeremy Gill, Jake Heggie, and Paul Moravec (2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music), and Richard Wilson have set Lucy Miller Murray’s poetry to songs that were performed at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York City. Jake Heggie’s setting of her poem, “Would That I Were Edna St. Vincent Millay,” was recorded by soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Dmitri Dover as part of the SongFest program of The Colburn School in Los Angeles and performed at Opera America’s National Opera Center in New York and at the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts by soprano Regina Zona and pianist Kathleen Tagg. Her songs were also performed at Chamber Music Northwest by soprano Evanna Lai, clarinetist David Shifrin, and pianist Yevgeny Yontov.

Lucy Miller Murray holds a Bachelor’s degree from Chestnut Hill College, a Master’s degree from Temple University, and a certificate in Publishing Procedures from Radcliffe College. She was a member of the adjunct faculty in English at Harrisburg Area Community College. Her music studies include work with Benjamin Whitten of West Chester University, Daniel Epstein of the Raphael Trio, Stuart Malina, Music Director of the Harrisburg Symphony, and Peter Sirotin and Ya-Ting Chang of the Mendelssohn Piano Trio.

Photo by Christian Steiner