Obituary: Alexander Murray, 1929–2026

Alexander joined the LSO in 1955 and served as Principal Flute for eleven years until 1966. During that time he was a member of the Board of Directors for two years.

Born in 1929 in South Shields, he was sent as a boy to live in South Africa for the duration of World War II. He studied there with David Sandeman and played in the university orchestra in Johannesburg when he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music.

Following draft years in the Royal Air Force, a French Government Scholarship took him to Paris and study with Gaston Crunelle at the Conservatory. There he was awarded first prize playing Messiaen’s newly composed Le Merle Noir.

He married dancer Joan Elvin in 1954 and together they trained as teachers of the Alexander Technique. Through the following decades both Alex and Joan worked with many first-generation teachers and incorporated the technique into their own work.

During the 1950s he also played as Principal Flute of the Royal Opera House. Whilst with the LSO on a tour to the US in 1966, Alex was offered a teaching position at Michigan State University, joining its faculty in 1967 and remaining there until 1974. He then taught in Holland for three years, as well as teaching one day a week in Manchester at the Royal Northern College of Music. He was appointed Professor of Flute in 1977 at the University of Illinois, where he remained until his retirement in 2003. In 2015 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association.

Alex was an innovator in flute construction and acoustics. He worked with Albert Cooper, renowned designer and creator of the ‘Cooper scale,’ Jack Moore and other flute makers experimenting with flute design and tuning during the mid- to late-20th century.