Murphy Severtson (b. 1999) makes music centered in care, reciprocity, and human connection. Currently based in New York City, their compositions examine their lived experiences and closely held convictions, including chronic illness, the climate crisis, religion, gay and trans liberation.
As an educator, they have worked as a teaching and research assistant at St. Olaf College and Mannes College at the New School. Furthermore, they give lectures and workshops about making art during the climate crisis and the work of Pauline Oliveros. Currently, they are working on a book of text scores using Oliveros' philosophies to compose listening exercises for youth orchestras and with Tanya Kalmanovitch to develop a presentation on creative producing and passion projects. They work as an events manager and organizer, most recently with the American Composers Orchestra and composer Paul Pinto. Murphy is a founding member of Mosaic Composers Collective, a group of fresh collaborators and composers working in New York City. They co-host the podcast Classical Schmassical, with Alexa Letourneau. They studied with Timothy Mahr, Yan Pang, JC Sanford, and Justin Merritt at St. Olaf, graduating summa cum laude in 2022. Currently, Murphy studies with Valerie Coleman at Mannes College of Music. Murphy previously used the name Anna Severtson. |