Artist Information
Bio
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
Bramwell Tovey, the former music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, is a musician of striking versatility. Bramwell Tovey is acknowledged around the world for his artistic depth and his warm, charismatic personality on the podium. Tovey's career as a conductor is uniquely enhanced by his work as a composer and pianist, lending him a remarkable musical perspective. Tovey has worked with orchestras in Europe and the UK including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Orchestra as well as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
In North America, along with his work with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Tovey has made guest appearances with the orchestras of Baltimore, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Seattle, Montreal as well as ongoing performances with Toronto. He is Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the founding host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic's Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall in summer 2009. The orchestra recently co-commissioned him to write a piece. He has made memorable appearances on television, including two documentaries with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, a CBC TV broadcast of an oratorio by Victor Davies', and several DVDs. Prior to his music directorship in Vancouver, Tovey spent twelve years as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, where he founded its highly regarded New Music Festival. The festival premiered more than 250 works by international and Canadian composers under Tovey's leadership, with every performance broadcast on Canada's CBC Radio.
Tovey is also well regarded as a composer and is the first artist to win a Juno Award in both conducting and composing. He has been commissioned by the Calgary Opera to compose the company's third original full-length opera. Written with librettist John Murrell, this work is based on the extraordinary life of Alexander "Sandy" Keith, a notorious 19th century con artist and criminal from Halifax, Nova Scotia. An immense undertaking, the piece will premiere in Calgary in January of 2011. He received the Best Canadian Classical Composition 2003 Juno Award for his Requiem for a Charred Skull, performed and recorded by the Amadeus Choir and the Hannaford Band in Toronto. His recording for CBC of the VSO performance of the Brahms Violin concerto with violinist James Ehnes won both a GRAMMY Award and a Juno Award.
Tovey also has a strong reputation as an accomplished jazz pianist with two recordings to his name in that genre. Awarded numerous honorary degrees, Tovey has received a Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary Doctorates of Law from the University of Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba and Kwantlen University College, as well as a Fellowship from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In 1999, he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a prestigious Canadian prize awarded to premier artists for outstanding contributions in professional performing arts organizations.