Graeme Murphy b.1950

At the end of 1976, Murphy was appointed director of the Dance Company (NSW). The first
ballet he created for the company was Glimpses in 1977, to music by Margaret Sutherland. In 1979 came the sensational Cocteau-inspired Poppy, the first full-length ballet ever created in Australia, with a score commissioned from Carl Vine. It was in the company’s debut season in Melbourne, at the Princess Theatre in 1980, and it was seen in New York the following year, on the first of the company’s more than 20 overseas trips. They have toured through Asia, Europe, and North and South America.

Under his inspired direction the SDC emerged as a major choreographer-led contemporary dance company. Clever marketing attracted a new, devoted, younger audience. With Vernon as his associate director, Murphy nurtured the work of other Australian choreographers, notably Paul Mercurio, Gideon Obarzanek and Stephen Page.

In his 30 years at the helm, Murphy created a remarkably diverse repertoire, including 30 full-length productions. His works reflect his eclectic interest the music of 20th century composers: Maurice Ravel’s Shéhérazade and Daphnis and Chloé; Iannis Xenakis’ Kraanerg; Karol Szymanowski’s Mythes Opus 30, Song of the Night and King Roger; Olivier Messaien’s Turangalila Symphony; Steve Martland’s Drill and Istvan Marta’s A Doll’s House Story, are examples.

Graeme Murphy is also passionately committed to Australian music. He has commissioned scores from many local composers, such as Barry Conyngham (Rumours, VAST), Richard Meale (Viridian), Graeme Koehne (The Selfish Giant, Nearly Beloved, Tivoli), Martin Armiger (Fornicon), Ross Edwards (Sensing), Iva Davies (Boxes, Berlin), Max Lambert (Deadly Sins, Berlin, Tivoli), Michael Askill (Free Radicals, Salome, Air and Other Invisible Forces), Matthew Hindson (Ellipse) and Carl Vine (Tip, Poppy, Piano Sonata, Beauty and the Beast, Mythologia).

Additionally, he has created works for the Australian Ballet (including Nutcracker and his 2002 award-winning Swan Lake, conceived in collaboration with Vernon and designer Kristian Fredrikson); The Silver Rose for the Bayerisches Staatsballet München; Mulan for the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble; Song of the Night for Nederlands Dans Theater, Orpheus for the Royal New Zealand Ballet, and Embodied, a solo work for Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project. He has choreographed for the Canadian Opera Company (Death in Venice) and more recently for the Metropolitan Opera, New York (Samson and Dalila). He has also choreographed extensively for the ice skaters Torvill and Dean, creating their world tour show as well as the TV special Fire and Ice.

In 1988 Murphy was commissioned by the Australian Bicentennial Authority to create a national dance event, VAST, involving 70 dancers from four state dance companies – Australian Dance Theatre, West Australian Ballet, The Queensland Ballet and Sydney Dance Company.