Tovey Appointed Director of Orchestral Activities
Boston University College of Fine Arts is pleased to announce the appointment of Bramwell Tovey as Director of Orchestral Activities for BU School of Music. He succeeds David Hoose, who led the program from 1987 to 2015. Tovey begins his new role at Boston University in the Fall 2017 semester with his first public rehearsal scheduled during BU’s Alumni Weekend in September.
“Bramwell Tovey’s extensive career, both as a conductor and a teacher, brings renewed energy and experience to the School of Music at Boston University,” says Lynne Allen, Dean ad interim of Boston University College of Fine Arts. “His fresh ideas and incredible knowledge of repertoire in performing and engaging audiences offer our students exceptional experiences and viewpoints about classical music today. We are delighted to have him join our ranks and look forward to new and exciting music performances.”
Composer and conductor Bramwell Tovey was appointed Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) in 2000. Under his leadership the VSO has toured across Canada and the United States as well as to China and Korea. His guest appearances for the 2015-16 season included the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, and the Boston, Chicago, Montreal, Melbourne and Sydney Symphonies. Tovey is also the Artistic Adviser of the VSO School of Music, which provides music education opportunities to students of all ages. Beginning with the VSO’s 100th season in 2018, Tovey will assume the title of VSO Music Director Emeritus. He is of course known very well to the brass band fraternity through both his roles as conductor and composer, notably with Foden's Band and as Artistic Director of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain.
“As a conductor and pedagogue, Bramwell Tovey is known to audiences around the world. Boston University School of Music in the College of Fine Arts is thrilled to welcome him to our faculty,” explains Shiela Kibbe, Director ad interim of BU School of Music. “We know that his appointment will inspire current students, and anticipate that alumni across the profession, as well as prospective students and their families, will celebrate this important moment for the orchestral program.”
Among his many noteworthy accomplishments, Tovey and the VSO, with violinist James Ehnes, won a GRAMMY® and a JUNO award in 2008 for their recording of Barber, Korngold and Walton concertos. In 2015, he was awarded the Oscar Morawetz Award for Excellence In Music Performance and donated the ,000 award to the VSO School of Music bursaries to study with VSO musicians. Also a noted composer, Bramwell Tovey won the JUNO Award for Best Classical Composition in 2003 for his choral and brass work Requiem for a Charred Skull. In addition to being an accomplished conductor and composer, he is a talented pianist and has appeared as a soloist with many major orchestras including, Los Angeles, Melbourne, New York, Pittsburgh, Sydney, St. Louis, Toronto, and Royal Scottish orchestras.
Bramwell Tovey has already started work in his new post with his first public appearance on a BU podium happening the during Alumni Weekend at an Open Rehearsal with the BU Symphonic Orchestra on September 15. The repertoire included: Sergei Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet: Suite from the Complete Ballet, Op.64; Frederick Delius – The Walk to Paradise Garden (from “A Village Romeo and Juliet”) and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy.
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