Diedre Murray facts for kids

Diedre Murray is an amazing American musician, composer, and producer. She plays the cello, which is a beautiful string instrument, and she writes music for jazz and musical plays. She also helps create and organize music events and recordings.

Diedre has worked with many famous musicians like Leroy Jenkins, James Brown, and Archie Shepp. She has also led her own music groups. You can hear her playing, composing, or producing on over 50 different music recordings!

Diedre was born in New York. She studied music at Hunter College and the Manhattan School of Music.

Diedre Murray's Musical Journey

Diedre Murray has written music for many different types of performances. Early in her career, she composed a piece called "Five Minute Tango" for a concert. She also created music for a dance piece called Flashes, working with choreographer Blondell Cummings. Diedre even wrote music for a radio show called Dracula's Wives.

Besides composing, Ms. Murray also helped organize music events in the 1990s and early 2000s. She planned programs for places like the Jamaica Arts Center. She also helped create the Firewall Festival, which brought music to New York City and Philadelphia.

In 1996, Diedre worked on a music-theater piece called You Don't Miss Your Water with poet Cornelius Eady. She also composed music for a dance piece called Women in the Dunes for the Japan Society.

A big project for Diedre was the jazz opera The Running Man. She wrote the story, music, and script for this opera. She also created Songbird: The Life and Times of Ella Fitzgerald, writing all the original music for it. In 1999, her piece for orchestra, Eleven Elements of Joy, was performed for the first time.

In the early 2000s, Diedre continued to compose. She wrote music for the musical Eli's Coming, which won her a special award. She also composed for a play called Brutal Imagination. Diedre worked on many other projects, including dance pieces, musicals, and even an opera called The Blackamoor Angel. She helped adapt the music for the famous Broadway show The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess in 2012.

More recently, Diedre has been busy with new projects. She is working on a musical called "Loving" and an opera called "Patient Zero." She is also composing music for a dance production and a soundtrack for a film.

Awards and Recognition

Diedre Murray has received several important awards for her work:

• Obie Award, The Running Man, 1999
• Pulitzer Prize Finalist for Drama, The Running Man, 1999
• Obie Award, Eli's Comin', 2002
• The Lilly's Composer Award, 2015

Music Recordings

Here are some of the albums Diedre Murray has been a part of:

As a leader or co-leader

• 1992 Firestorm (Victo)
• 1994 Stringology with Fred Hopkins (Black Saint)
• 1998 Prophecy with Fred Hopkins (About Time)

As a contributing musician

With Leroy Jenkins and The Jazz Composer's Orchestra

• For Players Only (1975)

With Muhal Richard Abrams

• The Hearinga Suite (1989)

With Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson

• Children of the Fire (1973)
• Hannibal (1975)
• Hannibal in Berlin (1976)
• Hannibal Live in Antibes (1977)
• Hannibal Live in Berlin (1977)
• Hannibal in Lausanne (1978)
• The Light (1978)
• Naima (1978)
• Tribute (1979)
• Children of Atlanta (1981)
• Visions of a New World (1989)

With Henry Threadgill

• Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket (1983)
• Subject to Change (1985)
• You Know the Number (1986)
• Easily Slip Into Another World (1987)
• Rag, Bush and All (1988)