Renowned New Zealand-born clarinettist Murray Khouri, who spent much of his career in London and was a co-founder of the Australia Ensemble, has died.

Khouri was born in Wellington on April 8, 1941 into a family whose predecessors left a village near Beirut in Lebanon in the late 19th century. Studying the clarinet as a child, he joined the NZSO National Youth Orchestra in 1959 – the year it was established – at the age of 16 and later played with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Murray Khouri. Photo supplied 

He went to London when he was 18, with financial assistance from his grandfather, and studied at the Royal College of Music. While still a student, he made his solo debut at Wigmore Hall, playing Mátyás Seiber’s Clarinet Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. He toured with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and became first clarinet with the Royal Ballet Orchestra.

At the end of his studies he and his wife Susan Margaret Thorpe, a violinist and violist who he married in 1964, moved to New Zealand. However, two years later they returned to London where Khouri played with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra,...