Charles Bruffy
Encyclopedia
Kansas City Chorale
The Kansas City Chorale is a professional 24-voice chorus conducted by Charles Bruffy. They perform an annual concert series in Kansas City and a concert in Phoenix each year with their sister choir, the Phoenix Chorale, also conducted by Mr. Bruffy. During his tenure as conductor, the chorus has...
and the Phoenix Chorale
Phoenix Chorale
The Phoenix Chorale is a professional chamber choir based out of Phoenix, Arizona, United States.The ensemble formed in 1958 as the Bach and Madrigal Society...
and is Chorus Director of the Kansas City Symphony
Kansas City Symphony
The Kansas City Symphony is a United States symphony orchestra based in Kansas City, Missouri. The current music director is conductor Michael Stern. The current home of the Symphony is the Lyric Theatre, located in Downtown Kansas City on 11th Street between Wyandotte and Central Streets...
.
Education
A native of Savannah, MissouriSavannah, Missouri
Savannah is a city in Andrew County, Missouri, United States. The population was 4,762 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Andrew County.Savannah is part of the St...
, Bruffy received his Bachelors degree from Missouri Western State University
Missouri Western State University
Missouri Western State University is a public, co-educational university located in Saint Joseph, Missouri. The school enrolls 6,010 undergraduate students and 124 graduate students.-History:...
in Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph, Missouri
Saint Joseph is the second largest city in northwest Missouri, only second to Kansas City in size, serving as the county seat for Buchanan County. As of the 2010 census, Saint Joseph had a total population of 76,780, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The St...
and a Master’s degree in vocal performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri
University of Missouri
The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...
, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, where he also completed all course work for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Conducting. Bruffy has received honorary doctorates from Baker University
Baker University
Baker University is a private, residential university located in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools...
and Missouri Western State University.
Career
Bruffy has been Artistic Director of the Phoenix ChoralePhoenix Chorale
The Phoenix Chorale is a professional chamber choir based out of Phoenix, Arizona, United States.The ensemble formed in 1958 as the Bach and Madrigal Society...
since 1999 and of the Kansas City Chorale
Kansas City Chorale
The Kansas City Chorale is a professional 24-voice chorus conducted by Charles Bruffy. They perform an annual concert series in Kansas City and a concert in Phoenix each year with their sister choir, the Phoenix Chorale, also conducted by Mr. Bruffy. During his tenure as conductor, the chorus has...
since 1988. The choirs are praised for both their live performances and recordings. Bruffy’s eclectic discography of over 13 recordings includes music by Argento
Dominick Argento
Dominick Argento is an American composer, best known as a leading composer of lyric opera and choral music...
, Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Corigliano
John Corigliano
John Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
, Gretchaninov
Alexander Gretchaninov
Alexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov was a Russian Romantic composer.-His life:Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm...
, Martin
Frank Martin (composer)
Frank Martin was a Swiss composer, who lived a large part of his life in the Netherlands.-Childhood and youth:...
, Mäntyjärvi
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi
Jaakko Mäntyjärvi is a Finnish composer of classical music, and a professional translator.-Education:Mäntyjärvi studied English and Linguistics at the University of Helsinki, graduating with an FK degree in 1991...
, Rachmaninoff
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one of the last great representatives of Romanticism in Russian classical music...
, and Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
.
Bruffy has conducted workshops across the United States, such as the Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano...
of Rider University
Rider University
Rider University is a private, coeducational and nonsectarian university located chiefly in Lawrenceville, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States...
in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
and for the National Association of Church Musicians Convention in Long Beach, California
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city situated in Los Angeles County in Southern California, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The city is the 36th-largest city in the nation and the seventh-largest in California. As of 2010, its population was 462,257...
. In 2003 he conducted Verdi's Messa da Requiem in the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. As a tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
soloist, Bruffy performed with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in recordings and concerts in France, and in concerts at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
In 2009 Bruffy conducted both professional choruses in performances at the Arts & Cultural Center in Incheon, South Korea, Troy Music Hall
Troy Savings Bank
Troy Savings Bank, now owned by First Niagara Financial Group is a bank in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, U.S.A.. It is notable for having a music hall constructed on the second floor above the bank itself, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, which is renowned for its acoustics and includes a...
in Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
, and in Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
in New York City.
In 2010, Bruffy was asked to be the conductor of the Rhode Island Senior All-State Choir, where they performed at Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College
Rhode Island College is a nationally ranked, coeducational, state-supported comprehensive college founded in 1854, located in Providence, Rhode Island, USA...
.
Honors and awards
In 1999, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
named Bruffy as a potential heir apparent to the late great Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (conductor)
Robert Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Shaw received 14 Grammy awards, four ASCAP awards for service to contemporary music, the first Guggenheim Fellowship...
. In 1996, Bruffy was asked by National Public Radio to help celebrate Robert Shaw's 80th birthday with an on-air tribute. In 2005, the magazine Fanfare called him "one of the next big things in American choral music."
Bruffy has received numerous awards, including: ASCAP's Adventurous Programming award, the 2007 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Engineered Classical Album
Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical
The Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording, Classical has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Engineered Record ...
for his recording of Grechaninov's
Alexander Gretchaninov
Alexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov was a Russian Romantic composer.-His life:Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm...
Passion Week, and the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance
Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance has been awarded since 1997. In its early years, its title included the addition ""....
for his album Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary.
External links
- Kansas City Chorale website
- Phoenix Chorale website
- Charles Bruffy giamusic.com
- Charles Bruffy singers.com