Bramwell Tovey

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. His tenures as music director with the Vancouver Symphony, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra have been characterized by his expertise in operatic, choral, British, and contemporary repertoire. Bramwell continues as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, a post he has held since 2000. He continues as Principal Guest Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and as founding host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall. In 2008, the orchestras co-commissioned him to write a new work, the well-received Urban Runway, which has also been premiered in Canada.

In the 2008/09 season, Tovey toured China and South Korea with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and guest artist Hilary Hahn. The VSO was the first orchestra from Canada to perform in China in 30 years, which ended with a performance at the Beijing Music Festival – another first for a Canadian symphony. An esteemed guest conductor, Tovey has worked with orchestras in Europe and the U.K., including the London Philharmonic, the London Symphony, and the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra, as well as the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with whom he works regularly. In the 2009/10 season, Tovey returns to the Ulster and Helsingborg Orchestras, having made his successful debut in 2008/09, and to Opera North and the Trondheim Symphony. He also makes his debut with the Bergen Philharmonic and returns to the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra as curator of its Metropolis Festival in the summer of 2010 and to its main subscription season in the fall of 2011.

In North America, alongside 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, and Montreal, as well as ongoing performances with Toronto, where he conducts each season. 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. A significant milestone in the ensemble’s exploration of new music, the festival premiered more than 250 works by diverse international and Canadian composers under Tovey’s leadership, with every performance broadcast on Canada’s CBC Radio. During his four years as the music director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic (2002 to 2006), Tovey led three successful tours in Europe, the Far East, and the eastern United States. In 2004, Tovey and the orchestra were awarded the “Orphée d’Or” of the Académie Lyrique Française, for their critically praised recording of Jean Cras’ opera Polyphème. The following year, in celebration of the opening of Luxembourg’s new Philharmonic Hall, Tovey conducted the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Europa Academie Choir in the world premiere of Penderecki’s Eighth Symphony, composed especially for the occasion. Renowned as a choral conductor, Tovey has performed works ranging from Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 to Bach’s Mass in B minor. In opera, his repertoire includes works by Puccini, Strauss, Mozart, Menotti, Poulenc, Britten, and Stravinsky. In 2004, he premiered a new opera by John Estacio, jointly commissioned by the Banff Centre and the Calgary Opera, which he reprised for the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2005.

With a profound commitment to new music, Tovey has established himself as a formidable composer, and is the first artist to have won 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 is scheduled to premiere in Calgary in January of 2011. Tovey’s other accomplishments as a composer include receiving 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.

Tovey has also built a strong reputation as an accomplished jazz pianist with two recordings to his name. He has also made memorable appearances on television, including two documentaries with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a 1996 CBC TV broadcast of Victor Davies’ Revelation, a full-length oratorio based on the Book of Revelation, with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. He has also recorded several DVDs, of works including Holst’s The Planets with distinguished guests such as percussionist Evelyn Glennie, among many others. 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.