Bramwell Tovey
A musician of striking versatility, GRAMMY® Award winning conductor 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, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras have been characterized by his expertise in operatic, choral, British and contemporary repertoire.
Mr. Tovey who is entering his fourteenth season as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, also continues his association with 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, both orchestras co-commissioned him to write a new work, the well-received Urban Runway, subsequently programmed by a number of orchestras in the US and Canada. He was honored with the Best Canadian Classical Composition Juno® Award in 2003 for his Requiem for a Charred Skull.
An esteemed guest conductor, Mr. Tovey has worked with orchestras in the United States and Europe including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony and Frankfurt Radio Orchestra. In North America, Mr. 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 his trumpet concerto, commissioned by that orchestra received its premiere in winter of 2009 as a preview of his first full-length opera “The Inventor” premiered in Calgary in winter 2011. Other recent engagements included visits to the Nashville and Montreal symphonies as well as a return to Australia where he has already worked with the symphonies in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.
Touring is an important aspect of his artistic leadership with the Vancouver Symphony and in winter 2013 they embarked on a west coast US tour including visits to a number of brand new facilities in California and Nevada. Finally, to his already busy summer schedule this year he added return visits to the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga, NY, and the Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center.
Mr. Tovey has been awarded honorary degrees, including a Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary Doctorates from the universities of Winnipeg, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Kwantlen University College, as well as a Royal Conservatory of Music Fellowship in Toronto. In 1999, he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to artists for outstanding contributions in the performing arts. In 2013, he also received an honourary appointment as an “Officer of the Order of Canada” for his outstanding achievements as a conductor and composer, and for his commitment to promoting new Canadian music.
