East London Chorus - Conductor

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The London Pro Arte Orchestra

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Murray Stewart - Conductor

Born in London , Murray Stewart read Music at Cambridge University, where he was Organ Scholar at Trinity Hall. His early years were devoted to following a career as an Organist. Following studies in St Albans with Peter Hurford and later with Daniel Roth in Paris on an Arts Council Scholarship, he recorded the complete organ works of Cesar Franck, and works by Vierne for the Danish label, Kontrapunkt.

Since 1988, Murray has devoted himself exclusively to a conducting career, studying with Harold Gray, Meredith Davies and Sir Charles Mackerras. He has worked with many Orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, the Ulster Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, and the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. He has also worked with the BBC Concert Orchestra, with whom he has recorded the complete orchestral works of Maurice Durufle. He has also worked with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, the Musici de Praga and with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, including a performance of Beethoven's 9^th Symphony at the Smetana Hall, Prague.

Murray  is Artistic Director of the London Pro Arte Orchestra and London Pro Arte Baroque. With the former, he has conducted many Premieres, including works by Ropartz, Langlais, Sallinen, Kokkonen, Szymanowski, Howells, Patterson, Brian Chapple, Piers Hellawell, Geoffrey Burgon, Howard Blake, Naji Hakim and Robert Walker, all to critical acclaim.

He is a former Conductor of the Collegium Musicum of London, where he succeeded Laszlo Heltay, Bristol Choral Society and the London Forest Choir. He was also Artistic Director of Finchley Children's Music Group, with whom he gave the British Premiere of Pierre Max Dubois' opera 'Le ruban merveilleux' at Sadlers Wells, and appeared regularly on television. He is currently Music Director of the East London Chorus, and appears regularly as a Guest Conductor with other distinguished choirs at home and abroad, including the West German Radio Choir,  the Jyske Oper Kor, Denmark, and the Pamplona Chamber Choir, Spain.

Since early days, Murray has maintained a strong interest in French repertoire of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He has recorded two discs of music by Jean Langlais for Koch International. He also made the premiere Recording of Richard Maunder's edition of the Mozart Requiem, in its entirety, and on modern instruments, as well as a Christmas disc for Conifer Classics, which enjoyed great success in the classical charts. He has conducted over 20 Premieres both at home and abroad, most recently including works by Kenneth Leighton and Naji Hakim. He made the premiere recording of the Requiem Mass by the 19^th century Spanish composer Mariano Rodriguez de Ledesma. He has recently conducted the Spanish Premiere of Charpentier’s In Honorem Sancti Xaverij Canticum, in concerts in Pamplona and Madrid . Future plans include a Mozart anniversary concert at the 2006 Tudeley Festival, as well as return visit to the Fairfield Hall with the London Pro Arte Orchestra, as part of the International Orchestral Series.

rehearsing