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With music described as “breathtaking” (Kitchener-Waterloo Record), “imaginative and expressive” (The National Post), “a pulse-pounding barrage on the senses” (The Globe and Mail), and “Bartok on steroids” (Birmingham News), Kelly-Marie Murphy’s voice is well known on the Canadian music scene. She has created a number of memorable works for some of Canada’s leading performers and ensembles, including the Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, The Gryphon Trio, James Campbell, Shauna Rolston, the Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets, and Judy Loman.

Kelly-Marie Murphy was born on a NATO base in Sardegna, Italy, and grew up on Canadian Armed Forces bases all across Canada. She began her studies in composition at the University of Calgary with William Jordan and Allan Bell, and later received a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Leeds, England, where she studied with Philip Wilby. After living and working for many years in the Washington D.C. area where she was designated "an alien of extraordinary ability" by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, she is now based in Ottawa, quietly pursuing a career as a freelance composer. 
Selected work​
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  • Instrument of Peace - SSA and piano, opt. strings. Using the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, Murphy sets the text for treble choir over a flowing yet dexterous piano accompaniment. The typically legato and consonant writing is interrupted  in the middle by a brash fortissimo interlude, which quickly retreats back to the original flow of the piece.
Recently, Murphy has been the winner of both the Maria Anna Mozart Award and the Azrieli Prize, and is currently the composer-in-residence for the James Madison University New Music Festival