Performance
As a composer, Pippa has been involved in performances, recordings and installations in the UK and abroad. She has written music for BBC 2, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 3, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay in St Giles Cathedral, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, St Magnus International Festival, Aberdeen Art Gallery, Salford Art Gallery, Sound and Music, COMA, and numerous contemporary theatre companies including Dundee Rep, Birmingham Rep, Tron Theatre, Eden Court, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 7:84, Dogstar and Fire Exit.
Pippa’s works are multi-layered and multi-sensory. Some pieces draw on the full effects of combining sound design with orchestral instruments and voices. Her music has an immediacy, which is often dramatic and expressive. She is particularly interested in vocal techniques, phonemes, electronica and ‘found’ sound.
Pippa has directed many creative education projects throughout the world and has worked in many different musical and social contexts. She has devised pieces and trained teachers with the British Council in Scotland, Syria, Vietnam, Botswana, India, Iran and China. She has composed with asylum seekers in Glasgow, Manchester and Edinburgh and lectures at Edinburgh, St Andrews and Aberdeen Universities. She works regularly in cross-arts and multi-media collaborations and has worked with ensembles including Scottish Opera, Scottish Ensemble, McFalls Chamber, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Red Note Ensemble.
Pippa completed her BMus, MA and PhD in composition at Birmingham University. She was Vice-Chair of Sonic Arts Network (now Sound and Music) for 5 years and has written for Whitakers Almanac, Sunday Times and The Scotsman. She is on the board of ‘New Music Scotland’ and is currently Artist in Residence at the Scottish Parliament. She has just had a major new work Anamchara for Scottish Opera with writer Alexander McCall Smith performed with over 100 performers as part of the Commonwealth Games at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.
The music was poised delicately between being appealing to listen to, cleverly orchestrated, and also something that showed everyone on stage, from child to professional, in the best possible light.
**** Rosenna East – Hearald Scotland on Anamchara
‘Murphy’s score, an intoxicating mix of folk, madrigal, Brittenesque arioso and pop-rhapsody, veers between lyrical soliloquising and expressive intensity – seamlessly connected and wonderfully atmospheric.’
***** Andrew Clark - Financial Times on Opera ‘Bolted’
‘Pippa Murphy has created an outstanding soundtrack, weaving her music intricately into the fabric of the play itself.
**** Mark Brown, Sunday Herald on ‘Standing Wave’
There is an outstanding sound design by Pippa Murphy, which often seems to envelope the audience. **** Victor Hallett on ‘Factor 9’
