John Murrell was born in 1945 in the United States and is one of the most successful playwrights in Canada, with a long record of plays continuously produced and continuously in print.
Murrell’s most recent play represents the culmination of his passion for opera, for large-scale subjects, and for poetic language. Filumena, produced by the Calgary Opera in 2003, is an opera libretto that stands as a great drama in its own right. Murrell’s text and John Estacio’s score combine into a soaring, romantic story of exquisite beauty.… The scale of the opera and the opulent libretto/score took everyone by surprise, and raised a serious challenge to the notion that “grand opera” is a dated art form.