Bramwell Tovey
Versatile, ubiquitous, and tireless are three words that described the career and persona of conductor/composer Bramwell Tovey. He led major orchestras in North America and Europe and composed award-winning works such as his Requiem for a Charred Skull. As a conductor, his repertory included both concert and opera fare, from J.S. Bach and Mozart to Roussel and Corigliano, but with a slight preference for British, American, and Canadian music, especially in the contemporary realm. He gave world or North American premieres of compositions by Gavin Bryars, John Adams, Joan Tower, and R. Murray Schafer, but Tovey also introduced works by Pärt, Andriessen, and other European composers and, more often than not, offered concert fare featuring mainstream music by Beethoven, Stravinsky, and others. He recorded for CBC Records, Naxos, EMI, and other labels.
Tovey was born in Ilford, East London, on July 11, 1953. From age seven, he studied piano and later on became a member of various local youth ensembles playing violin and other instruments. Tovey's advanced studies were at London's Royal Academy of Music, primarily in piano and composition, but he also studied tuba with John Fletcher. Tovey steadily built his career throughout the 1970s, but his big break came in 1983 when he joined the staff at Covent Garden and led the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet on a tour of Canada. Because of that success, he was appointed principal conductor of the ballet troupe and its orchestra.
In 1986, Tovey led the London Symphony Orchestra at Barbican Centre in a program of Bernstein works. That acclaimed concert prompted Bernstein, who was in attendance, to invite Tovey to Tanglewood. That same year, Tovey's ballet The Snow Queen was premiered to acclaim by the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.
After a season (1988-1989) conducting the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Tovey assumed duties in 1989 as music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, serving until 2001. Tovey gave many memorable concerts with the orchestra, including the 1996 performance of Victor Davies' oratorio Revelation, which was broadcast over CBC television. Tovey turned out perhaps his most important works around the turn of the century: his Viola Concerto (1999), Cello Concerto (2000), and the aforementioned Requiem for a Charred Skull (2003), which received the Juno Award for Best Canadian Classical Composition.
Tovey became music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2000, remaining until 2018, when he was named music director emeritus. He and the VSO accompanied James Ehnes on his Grammy-winning recording of the Barber, Korngold, and Walton Violin Concertos. Tovey had many other positions during that same time period, including with the New York Philharmonic (2001-2014); as music director of the Luxembourg Philharmonic (2002-2006); and as principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (2008-2010). Tovey and the Foden's Brass Band -- another group with which he had a long-standing affiliation -- made New Music for Brass Band in 2009. He took a position with the Boston University School of Music in 2017, leading its orchestral activities; then, in 2019 was briefly artistic director of the Calgary Opera but had to resign after being diagnosed with cancer. His last appointment was with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, where he began as an advisor in 2018 and was named conductor in late 2021, just a few months after he also had been named music director at the Sarasota Orchestra beginning with the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately, Tovey's cancer returned in early 2022, and he passed away on July 12, 2022, a day after his 69th birthday.
© Robert Cummings & Patsy Morita /TiVo
Artistas semelhantes
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Barber, Korngold, Walton: Violin Concertos
Classical - Lançado por Onyx Classics em 01/11/2006
Gramophone AwardQualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pierne, G.: Impressions De Music-Hall Suite / Izeyl Suite / Fantaisie Basque Sur Des Themes Populaires Basques Espagnols / Divertissement
Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg , Philippe Koch, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por Timpani em 01/01/2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gregson: A Song for Chris - Trombone Concerto - Music for Chamber Orchestra - 2 Pictures
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Peter Moore, Timothy Welch, Guy Johnston, Bramwell Tovey
Symphonic Music - Lançado por Chandos em 01/01/2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Albert Roussel : Œuvres vocales symphoniques
Benjamin Butterfield, Europa Chor Akademie, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg , Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por Timpani em 01/01/2004
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Silver Voice
Katherine Bryan, Bramwell Tovey, Orchestra of Opera North
Concertos - Lançado por Chandos em 01/10/2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Symphonic Euphonium
Bramwell Tovey, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, David Childs
Concertos - Lançado por Chandos em 01/10/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
British Flute Concertos
Emily Beynon, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Bramwell Tovey
Concertos - Lançado por Chandos em 01/04/2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Chopin: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2
Janina Fialkowska, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por ATMA Classique em 02/10/2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Philip Smith Collection, Album 3: The Concertos (Live)
Philip Smith, New York Philharmonic, Joseph Alessi, Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por New York Philharmonic em 12/05/2015
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky / Massenet
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por imp em 01/01/1991
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Fugitive Colours
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Gryphon Trio, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por Naxos em 06/09/2011
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Gregson: Dream Song, Aztec Dances, Horn Concerto & Concerto for Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Watkins, Wissam Boustany
Symphonies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/07/2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gregson: A Song for Chris, Trombone Concerto, Music for Chamber Orchestra & Two Pictures for String Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey, The BBC Concert Orchestra, Peter Moore, Guy Johnston
Symphonies - Lançado por Chandos em 01/01/2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Emily Beynon Plays British Flute Concertos
Bramwell Tovey, BBC National Orchestra Of Wales, Emily Beynon
Concertos - Lançado por Chandos em 01/04/2012
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
BORODIN, A.P.: Symphony No. 2 / KHACHATURIAN, A.I.: Gayne Ballet Suite (Vancouver Symphony, Tovey) (Alexander Porfir'yevich Borodin - Lev Atovmyan - Dmitry Shostakovich)
Classical - Lançado por CBC em 18/09/2001
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
New Music for Brass Band
Foden's Richardson Band, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por NMC Recordings em 13/10/2008
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RAVEL, M.: Daphnis et Chloe (Europa Chor Akademie, Luxembourg Philharmonic, Tovey) (Maurice Ravel)
Classical - Lançado por Glor Classics em 15/12/2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Turner, R.: Canadian Composers Portraits
Classical - Lançado por Centrediscs em 01/04/2012
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
War of Angels
Pauline Pemik, Inukshuk Aksalnik, Bramwell Tovey, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Andrey Boreyko
Classical - Lançado por Centrediscs em 26/02/2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Eighteen (The Original Motion Picture Score)
Bramwell Tovey, The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Symphonic Music - Lançado por Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra em 25/09/2005
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Afghanistan - Requiem for a Generation (Live)
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey
Classical - Lançado por Centrediscs em 03/05/2024
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo