Australian composer Nicole Murphy’s music has been described as “exquisite and sensitive” (Sydney Morning Herald), “strong and compelling” (Loudmouth) and “full of exhilarating tension” (Arts Knoxville). She has been commissioned by eminent arts organisations including the Australian Ballet, the Royal Academy of Dance (London), the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Experiments in Opera/Symphony Space (New York), Orchestra Victoria, Wild Rumpus (San Francisco), Chamber Sounds (Singapore), and the Definiens Project (Los Angeles). Her music has been performed by ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, NOWensemble, the Goldner and Dover Quartets, and has been programmed at numerous festivals, including the Mizzou International Music Festival, the Norfolk Yale Chamber Music Festival, the Dallas Festival of Modern Music, the Nief Norf Festival (Tennessee), the Risuonanze Festival (Italy), and the Vox Feminae Festival (Tel Aviv). 

Nicole is the recipient of various awards, including the inaugural Layton Composer Fellowship at the University of NSW (2018), Ensemble Offspring’s Noisy Women Commission (2019), the MAFB International Commissioning Prize (2015), and the Theodore Front International Orchestral Prize (2013). In 2020 she was recognised as one of AMP’s ‘Tomorrow Makers’. Her 2016 piano trio, Spinning Top, was included on the ABC Classic album ‘Women of Note: A Century of Australian Composers’. Nicole is based in Brisbane and teaches composition at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. She holds a PhD in composition from the University of Queensland.

Nicole Murphy was a featured composer and presenter in our August 2023 Voyage of Musical Discovery education program in Brisbane. She joins ARCO’s 2024 tour of Brisbane and regional Queensland as composer and Voyage co-presenter of an ARCO-commissioned world premiere for historic clarinet and strings.

“…all charm and brilliance as she showed a keen ear for engaging sonorities.” - Rodney Smith, Adelaide Advertiser