Blog
Monthly Archive: 2017
Undula for Molly Morkowski
Posted on Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Undula is a new solo piano piece written for New York-based Molly Morkowski. The premiere takes place at a recital she is giving in Montana State University this October 7th. Undula is inspired by the Californian pool paintings of David Hockney. Read more about it here
New piece for San Diego Symphony
Posted on Friday, June 9, 2017
I was honoured to be asked by San Diego Symphony to write a celebratory fanfare in honour of their departing maestro Jahja Ling, who conducted the premieres of my Night Parade and the Violin Concerto Fragile Light. The former of these pieces Jahja also brought to Carnegie Hall for the orchestra's debut there, as well as on their tour of China in 2013. I enjoyed working with Maestro Ling, who had a firm but gentle approach, and the orchestra has clearly flourished under his tenure, with a raft of excellent younger players joining and creating his legacy for the future.
The fanfare is a 3 minute work for full orchestra, you can hear it by clicking the youtube video above. It's called Fanfarrón, the Spanish word, said to be the origin of the word 'fanfare', which translates roughly as 'show-off' or 'loud-mouth' - a reference to the character of the music of course, rather than the man himself, who is anything but!
Avi Avital/Dover Quartet US Tour
Posted on Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Mandolin rock-star Avi Avital and the leading US quartet Dover Quartet tour Cymbeline in North America throughout February, as well as recording the piece for a future release, alongside Bruce's The North Wind was a Woman. Described by the Financial Times as "a vibrant piece with a golden hue that finds much sonic variety in the instrumental combination", Cymbeline is inspired by the spiritual place the sun has had in human culture and forms three movements relating to positions of the sun - sunrise, noon, and sunset.
Tour dates:
- Feb 7 2016
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, TN (Avi Avital, Dover Quartet) - Feb 11 15 2017
Royal Conservatory, Toronto & live stream (Avi Avital, Dover Quartet) - Feb 17 2017
Conrad Prebys Hall UCSD, San Diego (Avi Avital, Dover Quartet) - Feb 18 2016
Oregon Bach Festival (Avi Avital, Dover Quartet) - Feb 19 2017
Vancouver Playhouse (Avi Avital, Dover Quartet )
Nothing in Denmark
Posted on Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Den Jyske Opera, otherwise known as Danish National Opera opens the Danish premiere of Nothing this February
More info here
Nothing was recently picked as an operatic highlight of 2016 by The Guardian, The Telegraph, Arts Desk and critic Mark Pullinger.
Fiona Maddocks called it "one of the world premiere hits of the year" in The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/dec/04/fiona-maddocks-best-classical-music-2016-chineke-david-bruce-ring-opera-north-lulu-eno
and David Nice at Arts Desk said "this was a show that worked at every level, begging a London airing (the opera premieres in Teller’s Denmark next year)."
http://www.theartsdesk.com/opera/best-2016-opera
Rupert Christiansen in the Telegraph also mentioned it in his round-up of the best of the year:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opera/what-to-see/thumbs-new-work-lukewarm-applause-big-hitters-2016-opera/
as did critic Mark Pullinger on his personal blog:
http://beckmessersquill.com/2016/12/28/plums-and-turkeys-musical-voyage-around-2016-highlights-mark-pullinger/
