William A. Murphy

Instructor of Music
Faculty Accompanist, Vocal Coach

Education

• MA in Piano Performance, Marshall University
• BM in Voice Performance, Morehead State University
• Colleague Certificate, American Guild of Organists (AGO)

Profile

William A. Murphy is continuing in his sixth year as Staff Accompanist at Morehead State University.  He is a graduate of Marshall University with a Master of Arts in Performance (Piano). 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, the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) in 2018, the Flute Society of Kentucky in the spring of 2019, the International Trombone Festival (ITF) in the summer of 2019 and most recently, the Falcone International Tuba Euphonium Festival in the summer of 2021.

Previous to his position at MSU, he was an adjunct faculty member at Marshall University starting in January 2013 which 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 being a 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 8 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). 

He received a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance with Cum Laude honors from Morehead State University in December 2009.  He participated as a student and accompanist for the participants of the Kentucky Institute for International Studies program in Salzburg, Austria (Summers 2007 and 2009).  He is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).