Article

Paul Murray

Published Online March 26, 2012

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Paul (Burns) Murray. Educator, organist, choir director, broadcaster, born Saint John, NB, 21 Mar 1927; died at Halifax 9 Jul 2007), L MUS (Mount Allison University) 1949, ATCM 1951, B MUS (Toronto) 1952, FCCO 1952, ARCM 1953, ARCO 1953, FRCO 1954.

Paul Murray

Paul (Burns) Murray. Educator, organist, choir director, broadcaster, born Saint John, NB, 21 Mar 1927; died at Halifax 9 Jul 2007), L MUS (Mount Allison University) 1949, ATCM 1951, B MUS (Toronto) 1952, FCCO 1952, ARCM 1953, ARCO 1953, FRCO 1954. Murray was director of school music 1955-61 in Saint John before moving to Toronto as organist-choirmaster 1961-7 at Metropolitan United Church and supervisor of music for Scarborough schools. He was also a school music chairman 1963-7 for the North York Board of Education. In 1967 he returned to the Maritimes where he was a music consultant for the Nova Scotia Dept of Education until 1991 and was responsible for the development and implementation of the elementary and high school music curriculum. Murray also served as organist and choirmaster at St. James' Anglican Church, Armdale, and St. Matthew's United Church in Halifax.

In 1970 Murray founded the Halifax Chamber Choir, which has toured in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. It appeared in concerts, workshops, church services, civic celebrations, and broadcasts, and won the Federation of Canadian Music Festivals (FCMF) City of Lincoln Trophy twice (1978, 1979). The choir's annual carol concert at St Mary's Basilica has become a Halifax tradition. Murray was organist and choirmaster of St Matthew's United Church in Halifax 1978-86. He directed the church choir, together with the Halifax Chamber Choir and an orchestra, in Bach's St Matthew Passion, the Brahms, Fauré, and Mozart Requiems, and Handel's Messiah.

Murray was chair of the Halifax Centre of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) 1972-4. He became a board member of the Canadian Music Educators' Association (CMEA) in 1972 and was its president 1976-9. In 1976 he became a director of the Canadian Music Council and was its vice-president 1978-81. He was a member of the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, the Nova Scotia Music Educators' Association (NSMEA ), and the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors. He was an experienced adjudicator and was heard on the CBC in discussions, on panels, in recital, and as host 1978-86 for the program "Organists in Recital."

Murray was awarded a Hon. Doctor of Laws (LLD) from Dalhousie University in 1992.