John McMurtery

John McMurtery is Second Flute in the Las Vegas Philharmonic. He enjoys a varied career as an orchestral flutist, soloist, chamber musician, composer, and teacher. Currently, he is section flutist of the New York City Opera Orchestra, and principal of the School of American Ballet Orchestra at Lincoln Center, having served as guest principal flutist with the Chicago Symphony, Chicago Lyric Opera, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony. He performed with the Chicago Symphony on its 2017 European tour with Maestro Riccardo Muti. Previously, he was principal flutist with the Opera Orchestra of New York, the Peoria Symphony, the Crested Butte Festival Orchestra, the Dicapo Opera, and the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, and as piccoloist with the Oregon Symphony. McMurtery has performed regularly with the New Jersey Symphony and the Amici NY Orchestra at the OK Mozart Festival in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Of a Lincoln Center Festival performance of a Brian Ferneyhough work for solo flute, the New York Times wrote, “Carceri d’Invenzione IIb, a tour de force for flute bristling with invention, was played brilliantly by John McMurtery, exploring the extreme high and low registers of the instrument, zapping back and forth at hyperspeed." As soloist, McMurtery has appeared with the New York Symphonic Ensemble in Japan, the Peoria Symphony, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Reno Chamber Orchestra, and at the Wien Modern festival. He has given many premieres and continues to commission new works.

​As chamber musician, McMurtery is a founding member of Luna Nova and UpTown Flutes. He recorded for the NAXOS, Kleos, Navona, and Albany record labels. At the 2015 Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival he performed and recorded Messiaen’s Des canyons aux etoiles… under the direction of Maestro Alan Gilbert. Most recently, McMurtery recorded two CDs of solo and chamber music by Louis Anthony deLise for Bocage Records.

​Prior to his current appointment as Associate Professor of Flute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, McMurtery held teaching appointments at Western Illinois University, the Westminster Conservatory Young Artist Program, and the Lucy Moses School in New York City. He has given masterclasses throughout the US, Japan, and in Shenzhen, China, and has appeared as guest artist at flute festivals in Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee. McMurtery is a past president of the New York Flute Club and is currently president of the Las Vegas Flute Club. His compositions include several works for flute ensemble that are
published by Art of Sound Music that are performed throughout the United States.

Dr. McMurtery earned his DMA from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Julius Baker, Robert Langevin, and Jeanne Baxtresser. He received his MM from Rutgers University as a student of Bart Feller, and BM from Central Washington University where he studied with Dr. Hal Ott.