Murray was born in Dublin. Having won a number of prizes at the Feis Ceoil, she studied singing at the College of Music (now the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, Dublin) with Nancy Calthorpe, as well as arts and music at University College Dublin. In 1968, she made her Irish opera debut performing the shepherd role in a concert performance of Tosca. She pursued further studies with Frederic Cox at the Royal Manchester College of Music and made her stage debut as Alcestis in Christoph Willibald Gluck's Alceste in 1974. She has since sung at all major opera houses and is particularly noted for her performances in works by George Frideric Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss.
She maintains her links with Ireland and is a patron of the Young Associate Artists Programme of Dublin's Opera Theatre Company. In September 2010, she was appointed professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she was previously (since 1999) an honorary fellow.
Family
Murray was married to the late English tenor, Philip Langridge. The couple had one son, Jonathan, also a tenor.
Recordings
Mozart: Mass No. 18 in C Minor KV427 (with Amor Artis Chorale, English Chamber Orchestra, cond. Johannes Somary: LP, Vanguard, 1976)
Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor (with Ambrosian Opera Chorus, New Philharmonia Orchestra, cond. Jesús Lopez-Cobos: LP, Philips, 1977; re-issued CD, 1991)
Verdi: La Battaglia di Legnano (with Austrian Radio Chorus & Symphony Orchestra, cond. Lambert Gardelli: LP, Philips, 1979; re-issued CD, Philips, 1989)
Gay: The Beggar's Opera, arr. Bonynge/Gamley (with London Voices, National Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Richard Bonynge: LP, Decca, 1981)
Stravinsky: Songs (with Ensemble Intercontemporain, cond. Pierre Boulez: LP, Deutsche Grammophon, 1982; re-issued CD, 1992)
Haydn: Stabat mater (with Lausanne Vocal Ensemble & Chamber Orchestra, cond. Michel Corboz: LP, Erato, 1983)
Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (with Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Vienna Concentus Musicus, cond. Nikolaus Harnoncourt: LP, Telefunken, 1983)
Gounod: Romeo et Juliette (with Midi-Pyrenées Regional Choir, Toulouse Capitole Chorus & Orchestra, cond. Michel Plasson: LP, HMV, 1985)
Offenbach: Les Contes d'Hoffmann (with Chorus & Symphony Orchestra of the Brussels Opéra National du Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, cond. Sylvain Cambreling: LP/CD, EMI, 1988)
Brahms/Schumann: Voices of the Night (The Songmakers' Almanac: CD, Hyperion, 1989)
Vivaldi: Juditha triumpharis RV644 (with The King’s Consort Choir, The King’s Consort, cond. Robert King: CD, Hyperion, 1998)
L. Boulanger: D'un matin du printemps etc. (with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Yan Pascal Tortelier: CD, Chandos, 1999)
Handel: Serse (with Bavarian State Opera Chorus & Orchestra, cond. Ivor Bolton: CD, Farao Classics, 2000)
Hummel: Mass in E flat etc. (with Collegium Musicum 90, cond. Richard Hickox: CD, Chandos Chaconne, 2004)
The Songs of Robert Schumann vol. 9 (with Felicity Lott, S, Graham Johnson, pf: CD, Hyperion, 2004)