Tim Brady (composer)
Encyclopedia
Timothy Wesley John Brady (born 11 July 1956, Montréal
) is a Canadian composer
, electric guitar
ist, improvising musician, concert producer and record producer
. Working in the field of contemporary classical music
, experimental music
, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism
to minimalism
and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitar
s and other electroacoustic
instruments. His music is marked by a synthesis of musical languages, having developed an ability to use elements of many musical styles while retaining a strong sense of personal expression. Some of his more widely recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber music
trio ...in the Wake... (1985, 1988), and his song cycle
Revolutionary Songs (1994).
He is internationally recognized as one the world’s leading experimental/new music guitarists (1997
- Guitar Player
: “One of the 30 Most Important Guitarists for the Future of the Instrument”), and in recent years has gained a strong reputation as one of Canada
’s leading composers of chamber
, orchestral and music theatre works (2003 Prix OPUS Composer of the Year award, given by the Conseil québécois de la musique; 2006 Jan V. Matejcek award, given by SOCAN, the Canadian
performing rights society).
at eleven and was largely self-taught until the age of nineteen, with the exception of 18 months of basic beginner guitar lessons (chords
and strumming, playing acoustic
folk music
). He switched from acoustic
to electric guitar
at sixteen, and started his own rock band
soon after. The rock band
(going under the names Tosh and Mystrale) quickly became a vehicle for not only playing, but also for composing
music and by nineteen his interest in jazz
and other instrumental music had eclipsed the abilities of the rock (now almost jazz-fusion) group.
Brady studied music at Concordia University
in Montreal
(1975–1978, composition with Alan Crossman, guitar with Claude Dyotte), followed by graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music
in Boston
(1978–1980, composition with W. Thomas McKinley and guitar with the legendary Mick Goodrick
).
where he began working both as a contemporary classical
composer
and as a jazz guitarist
. In Toronto
his work as a composer
was still strongly influenced by modernist tendencies (i.e.: Elliot Carter, Anton Webern
, Pierre Boulez
), including his earliest professional chamber
piece for voice and ensemble
, 4 Songs and an Intermezzo, and other early works such as his String Quartet
#1, the chamber
work Five Settings (1983 - commissioned by Arraymusic
), and the Chamber Concerto (1985 - commissioned by New Music Concerts). A series of imaginative but conventional modernist chamber
and orchestral works would start to make Brady’s reputation as a composer
across Canada
, and would win him 5 composition awards from CAPAC (now SOCAN) from 1982 to 1986, and he was a finalist in the 1986 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Young Composers’ Competition, with the work Visions. His most ambitious and complex modernist
work, the 1982 orchestral score Variants, was premiered by the Esprit Orchestra in Toronto
in the 1987–1988 season, recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, as a result of winning the 1986 Micheline Coulombe St-Marcoux Prize (CAPAC).
However, two works of the Toronto
period point to the future vision of music as a more unified means of expression, without stylistic boundaries: SOUND OFF (1983), for 40 saxes
, 30 trombone
s, 30 trumpet
s and 8 bass drums (an outdoor performance
piece – unperformed until 1999) and Visions (1984), for improvising soloist
and string orchestra
. This latter work was to become his first CD release in 1988, in a remarkable performance by trumpeter Kenny Wheeler
, with the Orchestre de chambre de Montréal
.
– an ECM
-influenced jazz trio
set of original tunes called Chalk Paper, a recording of 3 chamber works for solo
piano
(performed by Marc Wider), and two digitally recorded LPs
of music for solo guitar
and electronics: dR.E.aM.s (1985) and The Persistence of Vision (1987). These two solo recording
s began to make his reputation as a guitar
innovator both in Canada
and internationally.
Brady’s Toronto
years also mark the beginning of his work as a concert
producer. In 1982 he founded the production company
Contemporary Music Projects, and he would produce and perform in major jazz orchestra events with iconic American jazz
arranger
Gil Evans
(1984) and maverick Canadian trumpeter/composer
Kenny Wheeler
(1985).
During this period his various jazz
groups/big band
s performed in clubs and concert
s in Toronto
and Montréal
, and did recordings of his original jazz
works for the CBC Radio
programme Jazz Beat
, as well as for the new music/contemporary classical programme Two New Hours. Brady had his first major international collaboration in 1983, performing a duo concert at the Edmonton Jazz City Festival with the Hungarian bass virtuoso
Aladar Pege
.
, England
, studying conducting
privately with Odaline de la Martinez
, playing jazz
gigs
with well-known UK jazz
musician
s such as Clark Tracey
and Guy Barker
, and recording a studio concert
of originals for the BBC
. During his 14 months in London
he came to the conclusion that he had to begin creating music that reflected all his experiences and interests – improvisation, jazz
, chamber music
, orchestral music, rock
, minimalism
, electronics
and even opera
– and that the division of music into different categories based upon a narrow musical language was artificial, that the composer’s
job was to create music that reflected who they were, as humans and as artist
s, not just to follow established aesthetic and historical models. He also decided that the electric guitar
needed to be a central part of his work as a composer
, in order to make his work as direct and personal as possible.
in 1987, he founded his own chamber
group and production company
in order to have some control over his work, and his new vision of creative
music. The group was named simply “Bradyworks”.
The first major Bradyworks project was Inventions, a 90-minute music and dance
collaboration, created in conjunction with Ottawa
choreographer Julie West. The work included the 5 musicians of Bradyworks plus the jazz
soloists Barre Phillips
(bass) and John Surman
(saxophone
s). A CD of the project was released in the autumn of 1991, to coincide with the groups’ first major tour, including 13 concerts across Canada
, plus a performance at Roulette, New York
’s well-known experimental music
space. The tour featured a chamber
work entitled The Songline, which had been commissioned by and premiered at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriville.
This project, as with almost all his recorded productions since 1988, was produced in collaboration with engineer and producer Morris Apelbaum, who also works as live sound engineer for the Bradyworks ensemble.
1992 saw the release of his landmark solo guitar
and electronics CD Imaginary Guitars, a CD which was internationally acknowledged as a bold new vision of contemporary music for the electric guitar
. This was followed by several other solo guitar
CDs, all focusing on composing
new music for guitar
with electronics and tape
: Scenarios (1994), Strange Attractors (1997) and the double CD 10 Collaborations (2000). All these recording
s were on the Justin Time Records
label, out of Montreal
. Brady toured extensively in the 1990s as a solo guitarist
, including performances at the 1993 Bourges Electronic Music
Festival
, the 1993 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
New Music Festival
(with his first electric guitar
concerto
, LOUD), the 1993 Bang On A Can Festival
, a 1994 collaboration with the Relâche ensemble
in Philadelphia, a 1995 UK tour for the Sonic Arts Network
with a performance for the BBC
at The South Bank (London
), a commission and a solo performance
at Maison Radio-France (INA
-GRM, Paris
) in 1996 (and again in 2001), the 1997 Huddersfield
Contemporary Music Festival
, and the 1999 Strange Attractor’s world tour, with 23 concerts in Canada
, the United States
, Europe
, Australia
, Japan
and Hong Kong
, including a performance at the Festival international de Jazz de Montréal
.
production company
Innovations en concert, producing many different events
in Montreal
, some with his music, but also producing concerts by many touring and local musicians as well. In 1995 Brady had the idea of producing the first-ever international festival
of contemporary chamber
and orchestral music for electric guitar
.
In collaboration with partners in Toronto
, Jonquière, Winnipeg
, Victoria, Vancouver
, and New York
, he created the festival
The Body Electric / Guitarévolution, which was held in the Autumn of 1997, presenting a total of 23 concert
s. The event featured performances by many guitar
luminaries including David Torn
, the Fred Frith Quartet
, Elliott Sharp
, René Lussier
, Ron Samworth, Greg Lowe, John Oliver
, Kapser Toeplitz, Scott Johnson
and Paul Dresher
. Brady also premiered his second electric guitar
concerto
, The Body Electric (1997), on the closing night of the event, a work commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
and performed by the Esprit Orchestra
. A second, somewhat smaller version of the festival
was held in 2002.
, his interest in opera
, music theatre and vocal music
had become one of his main artistic preoccupations. From 1989 to 1992 he worked on a chamber opera
version of the Man Booker prize-winning novel
The Bone People
, by New Zealand
author Keri Hulme
. The project was never completed due to difficulties in working with Ms. Hulme
, but it sparked a keen interest in vocal music
and music theatre which continues in his current works.
Out of this failed opera
experience came his first major song-cycle, entitled Revolutionary Songs (1993), based on a variety of poems in English
, French
and Spanish
. Sung by soprano
Nathalie Paulin, and scored for Bradyworks, the work was premiered at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
and later released on CD in 1996, supported by a 5-city Canadian tour. The work combines pulsing, jazz
and minimalist inflected harmonies with distorted rock guitar and a large range of electronic tape
sounds to create a 40-minute portrait of the experience of political revolution. The work had three American
performances in 2001, at The Kitchen (New York
, performed by Bradyworks), in Kansas City
(New Ear Ensemble), and in Boston
(Auros New Music Ensemble).
A 2nd Bradyworks song-cycle followed, entitled The Knife Thrower’s Partner (1997), using only a quartet of acoustic instruments in setting a text by Canadian poet
Douglas Burnet Smith
(whose work Brady would use again in 2009). Bradyworks toured this piece across Canada
in 2000, giving 8 performances with mezzo-soprano
Anne-Marie Donovan.
and began working with the Ambiances magnètiques label
, also based in Montreal.
The first release was of his work 20 Quarter Inch Jacks, a piece for 20 electric guitars
, commissioned by the Festival Les Coups de Théâtre. In 2003 he released Unison Rituals, a CD of his music for saxophone
and chamber ensemble, including the first of many collaborations with the Quasar saxophone quartet, and an overdubbed and reduced performance
of the 1983 work SOUND OFF, for 100 winds
and 8 bass drums. Later in 2003 Bradyworks performed its first Europe
an tour, with concerts in London
(for the BBC
at Maida Vale
), Aberdeen University (Scotland
) and at the Project Arts Centre
in Dublin (Ireland
) as part of the Crash Ensemble
's New Music Festival
.
2002 saw the premiere of his 45-minute, multi-movement work Playing Guitar: Symphony
#1, for solo electric guitar
, sampler
and 15 musician
s. The work was performed in Montreal
(Oscar Peterson Hall, Concordia University
– Oct. 2002), Marseille (G.M.E.M. – Festival Les Musiques – May 2003) and New York
(Interpretation Series, Merkin Hall – November 2002) by its commissioner, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and was released on CD in 2004. 2002 also saw the premiere of his orchestral work Three or Four Days After the Death of Kurt Cobain
by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
, under conductor
Rafael Frubek de Burghos, followed by a performance by the Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra in 2004.
The next few years would be occupied with the creation and production of Brady’s two chamber opera
s: The Salome Dancer (2005 – libretto
by John Sobol, commissioned and produced by NUMUS concerts at the Open Ears Festival
, with Bradyworks in the pit
, conducted
by Paul Pulford, with stage direction by Anne-Marie Donovan), and Three Cities in the Life of Dr. Norman Bethune
(2003 – found-text libretto
by the composer
, commissioned by La Société Radio-Canada, premiere
d by Bradyworks and baritone
Michael Donovan in Montreal
. Bethune had subsequent productions in Lennoxville, Toronto
and Guelph
(conducted
by Pierre Simard
), and was released on CD in 2005.
Brady left the Innovations en concert production company
in 2004 to focus on his own projects (running under the Bradyworks banner), and to work on the beginnings of what would eventually become the Canadian New Music Network (CNMN - 2005). The CNMN is a large, pan-Canadian movement to make contemporary creative concert music a more vibrant part of Canadian society. The organisation brings artists together in an annual event entitled FORUM, held in a different Canadian city each year (Winnipeg
– 2007, Toronto
– 2008, Montreal
– 2009). Brady is the current president of the CNMN (2005–2010). Since 2004 he has also served on the Board of Directors
of The Music Gallery, Canada
’s oldest artist-run new music centre, based in Toronto
.
music. The CD combined several of his works with pieces by composer
s Alex Burton, Tristan Murail
, Jean-François Laporte and Laurence Crane
. He toured music from the CD to The Netherlands in January 2007 in collaboration with the Quasar
saxophone quartet (concert
s in Eindhoven, Utrecht
and at the BIMHAUS in Amsterdam
), and in July of the same year he toured the project to Australia
, performing in Brisbane
(The Powerhouse, with Topology), Perth
(Tura Concerts), and at the Darwin International Guitar Festival
. He was back in The Netherlands in September 2007 for several performances, and also to give a lecture on new music and the electric guitar
, at the OUTPUT Electric Guitar
Festival
, held in the Muziekgebouw, in Amsterdam
.
2006 saw the first of two major collaborations with Montréal
video artist Martin Messier: the work was entitled My 20th Century, a music/video
/theatre work
for the Bradyworks ensemble
. The work toured Québec
in 2008, including a performance at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, and undertook a 9-city Canadian tour in the autumn of 2009, to coincide with the release of the CD and DVD
on Ambiances magnètiques.
Brady’s renewed interest in solo performance lead to his second collaboration with Messier: the 65-minute work for video
and electric guitar
entitled 24 Frames, premiered in Montreal
in October 2008. Another long-term collaborator, the Topology ensemble
of Brisbane
. Australia
, brought out a CD of Brady’s chamber work
in 2007, entitled SCAT
, on Ambiances magnètiques. His 2002 work 20 Quarter Inch Jacks was given its American
premiere
in January 2009, produced by CALARTS at the REDCAT
Hall of the Disney Auditorium, in Los Angeles
.
After many years away from the orchestral composition, 2007 onwards saw a major increase in orchestral works by Brady. This new orchestral music is very different from his earlier, modernist works. The new work is often highly rhythmic, reflecting his years in jazz
, working with leaner, simpler textures and materials, and also exploring moments of tranquility, calm and transparency. In many ways it is a translation of the over 20 years of experience working as a solo guitarist
and with the Bradyworks ensemble
, transposed into a larger, orchestral language.
Recent orchestral scores include The Choreography
of Time: Symphony
#2 (for saxophone quartet and orchestra
, another collaboration with the Quasar group and the Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra), Opposites Attract, a bass clarinet
concerto
commissioned by the CBC Radio
Orchestra
for Lori Freedman, The Guess Who
Symphony
, a series of radical deconstruction of songs by the 1960s/1970s rock group The Guess Who
(also a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
commission), Requiem
21.5 (for solo violin
and orchestra
) and Un Amour, un Hiver, for voice and orchestra
, with text by Québec
pop
icon Michel Rivard
. The last two works are part of his work with the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, where he serves as composer
in residence (2008–2010).
His two most recent works combine aspects of his now almost 30-year career in creative music. Amplify, Multiply, Remix and Redefine (in memory of Les Paul
) (2009) is a 30-minute work for 21 electric guitars
and symphony orchestra, commissioned by the Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra, which brings together his love of guitar
, improvisation, composition
and orchestral music. Parts of the work are related to the 1997 work The Body Electric
. The recent 15 Stages in the Search for Radium and Love (2009) is his second collaboration with poet
Douglas Burnet Smith
and is a 40-minute work for large chamber ensemble dealing with the life of Marie Curie
. It is structurally it is situated somewhere between a song-cycle and a music theatre piece, with theatrical actions specified at times for both the singer/soloist and the musicians, but with no specific set, staging
, lighting
or scenario
. The work is written for soprano
Halifax Janice Jackson, commissioned by the AVENTA ensemble of Victoria
.
, Toronto NOW Magazine, Montréal La Presse, The Gazette
, Le Devoir
, Voir
(Montréal, Québec City), Halifax Chronicle-Herald
, Vancouver Georgia Straight, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Philadelphia Inquirer, Winnipeg Free Press
, INA
-GRM (Radio-France), Winnipeg
Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival
, festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, Bang on a Can Festival, Relâche ensemble, Esprit Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, G.M.E.M. (Marseilles), Interpretations Series (New York
), The Kitchen
, Auros New Music Ensemble, New Ear Ensemble, Conseil québécois de la musique – Prix OPUS, Festival Les Coups de Théâtre (Montréal
), OUTPUT Festival, CALARTS REDCAT Theatre (Los Angeles
), Edmonton Jazz City, Festival international de jazz de Montréal
.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
) is a Canadian composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
ist, improvising musician, concert producer and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. Working in the field of contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
, experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
, and musique actuelle, his compositions utilize a variety of styles from serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
to minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
and often incorporate modern instruments such as electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s and other electroacoustic
Electroacoustic music
Electroacoustic music originated in Western art music during its modern era following the incorporation of electric sound production into compositional practice. The initial developments in electroacoustic music composition during the mid-20th century are associated with the activities of composers...
instruments. His music is marked by a synthesis of musical languages, having developed an ability to use elements of many musical styles while retaining a strong sense of personal expression. Some of his more widely recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
trio ...in the Wake... (1985, 1988), and his song cycle
Song cycle
A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...
Revolutionary Songs (1994).
He is internationally recognized as one the world’s leading experimental/new music guitarists (1997
1997 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1997.-January:*January 9 – David Bowie performs his 50th Birthday Bash concert at Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA with guests Frank Black, The Foo Fighters, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, Lou Reed, and Billy...
- Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
: “One of the 30 Most Important Guitarists for the Future of the Instrument”), and in recent years has gained a strong reputation as one of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
’s leading composers of chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, orchestral and music theatre works (2003 Prix OPUS Composer of the Year award, given by the Conseil québécois de la musique; 2006 Jan V. Matejcek award, given by SOCAN, the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
performing rights society).
Early years and studies
Brady began playing guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
at eleven and was largely self-taught until the age of nineteen, with the exception of 18 months of basic beginner guitar lessons (chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
and strumming, playing acoustic
Acoustic music
Acoustic music comprises music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means...
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
). He switched from acoustic
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
to electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
at sixteen, and started his own rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
soon after. The rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
(going under the names Tosh and Mystrale) quickly became a vehicle for not only playing, but also for composing
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
music and by nineteen his interest in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and other instrumental music had eclipsed the abilities of the rock (now almost jazz-fusion) group.
Brady studied music at Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
(1975–1978, composition with Alan Crossman, guitar with Claude Dyotte), followed by graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
(1978–1980, composition with W. Thomas McKinley and guitar with the legendary Mick Goodrick
Mick Goodrick
Mick Goodrick is an American post bop jazz guitarist and educator most noteworthy for his work with vibraphonist Gary Burton's band from 1973 to 1976, where for part of that time he was playing alongside guitarist Pat Metheny...
).
The Toronto period (1980–1986)
In 1980 he moved to TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
where he began working both as a contemporary classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and as a jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarists are guitar players who play jazz music on the guitar using an approach to playing chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist and soloist in small and large ensembles and also as an unaccompanied...
. In Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
his work as a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
was still strongly influenced by modernist tendencies (i.e.: Elliot Carter, Anton Webern
Anton Webern
Anton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
), including his earliest professional chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
piece for voice and ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:* Musical ensemble* Ensemble cast * Dance ensemble* Statistical ensemble ** Quantum statistical mechanics, the study of statistical ensembles of quantum mechanical systems...
, 4 Songs and an Intermezzo, and other early works such as his String Quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
#1, the chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
work Five Settings (1983 - commissioned by Arraymusic
Arraymusic
Arraymusic is a Canadian organization specializing in the performance and the promotion of contemporary classical music. It presents its virtuosic 7-member chamber ensemble, The Array Ensemble, each summer season in a 3-month series of Toronto-based concerts....
), and the Chamber Concerto (1985 - commissioned by New Music Concerts). A series of imaginative but conventional modernist chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and orchestral works would start to make Brady’s reputation as a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and would win him 5 composition awards from CAPAC (now SOCAN) from 1982 to 1986, and he was a finalist in the 1986 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
Young Composers’ Competition, with the work Visions. His most ambitious and complex modernist
Modernism (music)
Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, political advocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with the past or common practice.- Defining musical modernism :...
work, the 1982 orchestral score Variants, was premiered by the Esprit Orchestra in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in the 1987–1988 season, recorded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
, as a result of winning the 1986 Micheline Coulombe St-Marcoux Prize (CAPAC).
However, two works of the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
period point to the future vision of music as a more unified means of expression, without stylistic boundaries: SOUND OFF (1983), for 40 saxes
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, 30 trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, 30 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s and 8 bass drums (an outdoor performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
piece – unperformed until 1999) and Visions (1984), for improvising soloist
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
and string orchestra
String orchestra
A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
. This latter work was to become his first CD release in 1988, in a remarkable performance by trumpeter Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
, with the Orchestre de chambre de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
First recordings, first productions
Brady also recorded and produced his first 4 records in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
– an ECM
ECM (record label)
ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
-influenced jazz trio
Jazz trio
The term "piano trio" in jazz usually refers to a group comprising a pianist, a double bass player and a drummer. The pianist is usually considered the leader of these trios, and trios are usually named after their pianist...
set of original tunes called Chalk Paper, a recording of 3 chamber works for solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
(performed by Marc Wider), and two digitally recorded LPs
LP record
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
of music for solo guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and electronics: dR.E.aM.s (1985) and The Persistence of Vision (1987). These two solo recording
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
s began to make his reputation as a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
innovator both in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and internationally.
Brady’s Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
years also mark the beginning of his work as a concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
producer. In 1982 he founded the production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
Contemporary Music Projects, and he would produce and perform in major jazz orchestra events with iconic American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
(1984) and maverick Canadian trumpeter/composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
(1985).
During this period his various jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
groups/big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
s performed in clubs and concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, and did recordings of his original jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
works for the CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
programme Jazz Beat
Jazz Beat
Jazz Beat was a Canadian radio program, which aired Sunday evenings at 8 p.m. on CBC Radio 2 and at 11 p.m. on CBC Radio One. Hosted by Katie Malloch, the program profiled contemporary jazz through concerts, recorded music and interviews....
, as well as for the new music/contemporary classical programme Two New Hours. Brady had his first major international collaboration in 1983, performing a duo concert at the Edmonton Jazz City Festival with the Hungarian bass virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
Aladar Pege
Aladár Pege
Aladár Pege , was a jazz musician from Hungary. He was well known for his work and was dubbed "the Paganini of double bass"....
.
London interval (1986–1987)
From 1986 to 1987 he lived in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, studying conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
privately with Odaline de la Martinez
Odaline de la Martinez
Odaline de la Martinez is a Cuban-American composer and conductor, currently residing in the UK. She is the artistic director of , a London-based contemporary music ensemble which she co-founded in 1976 with New Zealander flautist , and was the first woman to conduct at the BBC Promenade Concerts ...
, playing jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
gigs
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
with well-known UK jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s such as Clark Tracey
Clark Tracey
Clark Tracey is an English jazz drummer. He is the son of Stan Tracey.Tracey played piano and vibraphone before switching to drums at age 13, studying under Bryan Spring. Tracey played in several ensembles with his father, including in a quartet called Fathers and Sons with John and Alec Dankworth...
and Guy Barker
Guy Barker
Guy Barker is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year had joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra...
, and recording a studio concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
of originals for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. During his 14 months in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
he came to the conclusion that he had to begin creating music that reflected all his experiences and interests – improvisation, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
, orchestral music, rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
, electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
and even opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
– and that the division of music into different categories based upon a narrow musical language was artificial, that the composer’s
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
job was to create music that reflected who they were, as humans and as artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s, not just to follow established aesthetic and historical models. He also decided that the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
needed to be a central part of his work as a composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, in order to make his work as direct and personal as possible.
Montreal, part 1: Bradyworks (1987–1997)
Upon returning to MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in 1987, he founded his own chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
group and production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
in order to have some control over his work, and his new vision of creative
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
music. The group was named simply “Bradyworks”.
The first major Bradyworks project was Inventions, a 90-minute music and dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
collaboration, created in conjunction with Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
choreographer Julie West. The work included the 5 musicians of Bradyworks plus the jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
soloists Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips
Barre Phillips is a jazz and free improvisation bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he migrated to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972 he has been based in southern France....
(bass) and John Surman
John Surman
John Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
(saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
s). A CD of the project was released in the autumn of 1991, to coincide with the groups’ first major tour, including 13 concerts across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, plus a performance at Roulette, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
’s well-known experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
space. The tour featured a chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
work entitled The Songline, which had been commissioned by and premiered at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriville.
This project, as with almost all his recorded productions since 1988, was produced in collaboration with engineer and producer Morris Apelbaum, who also works as live sound engineer for the Bradyworks ensemble.
1992 saw the release of his landmark solo guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and electronics CD Imaginary Guitars, a CD which was internationally acknowledged as a bold new vision of contemporary music for the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. This was followed by several other solo guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
CDs, all focusing on composing
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
new music for guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
with electronics and tape
Tape Music
Tape Music is an experimental 10" vinyl release by Jack Dangers. The vinyl release was coupled with the album Sounds Of The 20th Century No2 when released as a flexi disc vinyl....
: Scenarios (1994), Strange Attractors (1997) and the double CD 10 Collaborations (2000). All these recording
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
s were on the Justin Time Records
Justin Time Records
Justin Time Records, Inc. is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal. It was established in 1983 and specialises mostly in jazz and blues...
label, out of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Brady toured extensively in the 1990s as a solo guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, including performances at the 1993 Bourges Electronic Music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, the 1993 Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba.-History:...
New Music Festival
New Music Festival
Since 2004–2005, influenced by the Eurovision Song Contest and the large Internet community, online music contests are being realized all over Europe but in Net. NMF is one example of the large number of that contests and it is, currently, in Edition 2, held in Madrid Arena, Spain...
(with his first electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
, LOUD), the 1993 Bang On A Can Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, a 1994 collaboration with the Relâche ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:* Musical ensemble* Ensemble cast * Dance ensemble* Statistical ensemble ** Quantum statistical mechanics, the study of statistical ensembles of quantum mechanical systems...
in Philadelphia, a 1995 UK tour for the Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network
Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects...
with a performance for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
at The South Bank (London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), a commission and a solo performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
at Maison Radio-France (INA
Institut national de l'audiovisuel
The Institut national de l'audiovisuel , is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides customers with a free and immediate access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia...
-GRM, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) in 1996 (and again in 2001), the 1997 Huddersfield
Huddersfield
Huddersfield is a large market town within the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England, situated halfway between Leeds and Manchester. It lies north of London, and south of Bradford, the nearest city....
Contemporary Music Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, and the 1999 Strange Attractor’s world tour, with 23 concerts in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, including a performance at the Festival international de Jazz de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
The Body Electric Festival (1997)
Since 1994 Brady had been running the concertConcert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
Innovations en concert, producing many different events
Happening
A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered art, usually as performance art. Happenings take place anywhere , are often multi-disciplinary, with a nonlinear narrative and the active participation of the audience...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, some with his music, but also producing concerts by many touring and local musicians as well. In 1995 Brady had the idea of producing the first-ever international festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
of contemporary chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and orchestral music for electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
.
In collaboration with partners in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Jonquière, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, Victoria, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, he created the festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
The Body Electric / Guitarévolution, which was held in the Autumn of 1997, presenting a total of 23 concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s. The event featured performances by many guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
luminaries including David Torn
David Torn
David Torn is an American composer and guitarist.He is known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or textural quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness...
, the Fred Frith Quartet
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp
Elliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
, René Lussier
René Lussier
René Lussier is a musician based in the province of Québec, Canada. He is a composer, guitarist, bass guitarist, percussionist, bass clarinetist and singer. Lussier has collaborated with such figures as Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Jean Derome and Robert M. Lepage...
, Ron Samworth, Greg Lowe, John Oliver
John Oliver (composer)
John Oliver is a Canadian composer, guitarist, and conductor. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, his music has been performed throughout North America and Europe...
, Kapser Toeplitz, Scott Johnson
Scott Johnson (composer)
Scott Johnson is an American composer known for his pioneering use of recorded speech as musical melody. He was the recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim fellowship.- John Somebody :...
and Paul Dresher
Paul Dresher
Paul Joseph Dresher is an American composer. Dresher received his B.A. in music from the University of California, Berkeley and his M.A. in composition from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied with Robert Erickson, Roger Reynolds, Pauline Oliveros, and Bernard Rands.He also...
. Brady also premiered his second electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
, The Body Electric (1997), on the closing night of the event, a work commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
and performed by the Esprit Orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
. A second, somewhat smaller version of the festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
was held in 2002.
Bradyworks – vocal music (1997–2000)
Parallel to his work as a guitaristGuitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, his interest in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, music theatre and vocal music
Vocal music
Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...
had become one of his main artistic preoccupations. From 1989 to 1992 he worked on a chamber opera
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
version of the Man Booker prize-winning novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
The Bone People
The Bone People
The Bone People is a Booker Prize-winning 1984 novel by New Zealand author Keri Hulme. Hulme was turned down by many publishing houses before she found a small publishing house in New Zealand called Spiral...
, by New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
author Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme is a New Zealand writer, best known for The Bone People, her only novel.-Early life:Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children. Her parents were of English, Scottish, and Māori ...
. The project was never completed due to difficulties in working with Ms. Hulme
Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme is a New Zealand writer, best known for The Bone People, her only novel.-Early life:Hulme was born in Christchurch, in New Zealand's South Island. The daughter of a carpenter and a credit manager, she was the eldest of six children. Her parents were of English, Scottish, and Māori ...
, but it sparked a keen interest in vocal music
Vocal music
Vocal music is a genre of music performed by one or more singers, with or without instrumental accompaniment, in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but does not feature it prominently is generally considered instrumental music Vocal music is a genre of...
and music theatre which continues in his current works.
Out of this failed opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
experience came his first major song-cycle, entitled Revolutionary Songs (1993), based on a variety of poems in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. Sung by soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Nathalie Paulin, and scored for Bradyworks, the work was premiered at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and later released on CD in 1996, supported by a 5-city Canadian tour. The work combines pulsing, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and minimalist inflected harmonies with distorted rock guitar and a large range of electronic tape
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
sounds to create a 40-minute portrait of the experience of political revolution. The work had three American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
performances in 2001, at The Kitchen (New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, performed by Bradyworks), in 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...
(New Ear Ensemble), and in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
(Auros New Music Ensemble).
A 2nd Bradyworks song-cycle followed, entitled The Knife Thrower’s Partner (1997), using only a quartet of acoustic instruments in setting a text by Canadian poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Douglas Burnet Smith
Douglas Burnet Smith
Douglas Burnet Smith is a Canadian poet. He is the author of twelve volumes of poetry. His Voices from a Farther Room was nominated for the Governor General's Award, the most prestigious literary award in Canada. In addition to winning numerous poetry awards, in 1989 Mr. Smith won The Malahat...
(whose work Brady would use again in 2009). Bradyworks toured this piece across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
in 2000, giving 8 performances with mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Anne-Marie Donovan.
Montreal, part 2: operas, Ambiances magnètiques, CNMN (2002 - 2005 )
In 2002 Brady parted company amicably with Justin Time RecordsJustin Time Records
Justin Time Records, Inc. is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal. It was established in 1983 and specialises mostly in jazz and blues...
and began working with the Ambiances magnètiques label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, also based in Montreal.
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
The first release was of his work 20 Quarter Inch Jacks, a piece for 20 electric guitars
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...
, commissioned by the Festival Les Coups de Théâtre. In 2003 he released Unison Rituals, a CD of his music for saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and chamber ensemble, including the first of many collaborations with the Quasar saxophone quartet, and an overdubbed and reduced performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
of the 1983 work SOUND OFF, for 100 winds
Wind instrument
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator , in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of...
and 8 bass drums. Later in 2003 Bradyworks performed its first Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an tour, with concerts in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
at Maida Vale
Maida Vale
Maida Vale is a residential district in West London between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats...
), Aberdeen University (Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
) and at the Project Arts Centre
Project Arts Centre
Project Arts Centre is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Dublin's Temple Bar that showcases cutting-edge visual art and performance....
in Dublin (Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
) as part of the Crash Ensemble
Crash Ensemble
Crash Ensemble is an Irish new music ensemble, founded in 1997 by composer Donnacha Dennehy, conductor and pianist Andrew Synott and clarinettist Michael Seaver. It played its first concert in Dublin in 1997...
's New Music Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
.
2002 saw the premiere of his 45-minute, multi-movement work Playing Guitar: Symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
#1, for solo electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, sampler
Sampler (musical instrument)
A sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
and 15 musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s. The work was performed in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
(Oscar Peterson Hall, Concordia University
Concordia University
Concordia University is a comprehensive Canadian public university located in Montreal, Quebec, one of the two universities in the city where English is the primary language of instruction...
– Oct. 2002), Marseille (G.M.E.M. – Festival Les Musiques – May 2003) and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
(Interpretation Series, Merkin Hall – November 2002) by its commissioner, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and was released on CD in 2004. 2002 also saw the premiere of his orchestral work Three or Four Days After the Death of Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, under conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Rafael Frubek de Burghos, followed by a performance by the Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
Symphony Orchestra in 2004.
The next few years would be occupied with the creation and production of Brady’s two chamber opera
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
s: The Salome Dancer (2005 – libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by John Sobol, commissioned and produced by NUMUS concerts at the Open Ears Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, with Bradyworks in the pit
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the area in a theater in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music or in cases when incidental music is required...
, conducted
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
by Paul Pulford, with stage direction by Anne-Marie Donovan), and Three Cities in the Life of Dr. Norman Bethune
Norman Bethune
Henry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...
(2003 – found-text libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by the composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, commissioned by La Société Radio-Canada, premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
d by Bradyworks and baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
Michael Donovan in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. Bethune had subsequent productions in Lennoxville, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
(conducted
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
by Pierre Simard
Pierre Simard
Pierre Simard is a professor of social sciences born in Québec in 1954. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics , a master’s degree in policy analysis and a Ph.D in political science , all from the Université Laval.-Career:...
), and was released on CD in 2005.
Brady left the Innovations en concert production company
Production company
A production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
in 2004 to focus on his own projects (running under the Bradyworks banner), and to work on the beginnings of what would eventually become the Canadian New Music Network (CNMN - 2005). The CNMN is a large, pan-Canadian movement to make contemporary creative concert music a more vibrant part of Canadian society. The organisation brings artists together in an annual event entitled FORUM, held in a different Canadian city each year (Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
– 2007, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
– 2008, Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
– 2009). Brady is the current president of the CNMN (2005–2010). Since 2004 he has also served on the Board of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of The Music Gallery, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
’s oldest artist-run new music centre, based in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
.
Return of the solo (now multi-media) guitarist, a new orchestral voice (2006 - present)
In 2006 Brady released his first solo CD in 6 years, GO [guitar obsession], signaling a renewed interest in electric guitarElectric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
music. The CD combined several of his works with pieces by composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s Alex Burton, Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail
Tristan Murail is a French composer. His father, Gérard Murail, is a poet and his mother, Marie-Thérèse Barrois, a journalist. One of his brothers, Lorris Murail, and his younger sister Elvire Murail, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...
, Jean-François Laporte and Laurence Crane
Laurence Crane
Laurence Crane is a composer of contemporary classical music.He studied at Nottingham University with Peter Nelson and Nigel Osborne....
. He toured music from the CD to The Netherlands in January 2007 in collaboration with the Quasar
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
saxophone quartet (concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s in Eindhoven, Utrecht
Utrecht (city)
Utrecht city and municipality is the capital and most populous city of the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, and is the fourth largest city of the Netherlands with a population of 312,634 on 1 Jan 2011.Utrecht's ancient city centre features...
and at the BIMHAUS in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
), and in July of the same year he toured the project to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, performing in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
(The Powerhouse, with Topology), Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
(Tura Concerts), and at the Darwin International Guitar Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
. He was back in The Netherlands in September 2007 for several performances, and also to give a lecture on new music and the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, at the OUTPUT Electric Guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, held in the Muziekgebouw, in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
2006 saw the first of two major collaborations with Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
video artist Martin Messier: the work was entitled My 20th Century, a music/video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
/theatre work
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
for the Bradyworks ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:* Musical ensemble* Ensemble cast * Dance ensemble* Statistical ensemble ** Quantum statistical mechanics, the study of statistical ensembles of quantum mechanical systems...
. The work toured Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
in 2008, including a performance at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, and undertook a 9-city Canadian tour in the autumn of 2009, to coincide with the release of the CD and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on Ambiances magnètiques.
Brady’s renewed interest in solo performance lead to his second collaboration with Messier: the 65-minute work for video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
and electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
entitled 24 Frames, premiered in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
in October 2008. Another long-term collaborator, the Topology ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:* Musical ensemble* Ensemble cast * Dance ensemble* Statistical ensemble ** Quantum statistical mechanics, the study of statistical ensembles of quantum mechanical systems...
of Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
. Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, brought out a CD of Brady’s chamber work
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
in 2007, entitled SCAT
Scat
-Education:* School and College Ability Test* Somerset College of Arts and Technology, a community college in Somerset, England* Shrewsbury College of Arts & Technology, a community college in Shropshire, England-Games:* Thirty-one , a card game...
, on Ambiances magnètiques. His 2002 work 20 Quarter Inch Jacks was given its American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
in January 2009, produced by CALARTS at the REDCAT
REDCAT
Opened November 2003, REDCAT is a contemporary arts center that is an extension of CalArts campus, and serves as the professional presenting arm of the Institute...
Hall of the Disney Auditorium, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
After many years away from the orchestral composition, 2007 onwards saw a major increase in orchestral works by Brady. This new orchestral music is very different from his earlier, modernist works. The new work is often highly rhythmic, reflecting his years in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, working with leaner, simpler textures and materials, and also exploring moments of tranquility, calm and transparency. In many ways it is a translation of the over 20 years of experience working as a solo guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
and with the Bradyworks ensemble
Ensemble
Ensemble may refer to:* Musical ensemble* Ensemble cast * Dance ensemble* Statistical ensemble ** Quantum statistical mechanics, the study of statistical ensembles of quantum mechanical systems...
, transposed into a larger, orchestral language.
Recent orchestral scores include The Choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
of Time: Symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
#2 (for saxophone quartet and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, another collaboration with the Quasar group and the Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
Symphony Orchestra), Opposites Attract, a bass clarinet
Bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
commissioned by the CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
Orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
for Lori Freedman, The Guess Who
The Guess Who
The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Initially gaining recognition in Canada, they also found international success from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s with numerous hit singles, including "American Woman", "These Eyes" and "Share the Land"...
Symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, a series of radical deconstruction of songs by the 1960s/1970s rock group The Guess Who
The Guess Who
The Guess Who are a Canadian rock band from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Initially gaining recognition in Canada, they also found international success from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s with numerous hit singles, including "American Woman", "These Eyes" and "Share the Land"...
(also a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
commission), Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
21.5 (for solo violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
) and Un Amour, un Hiver, for voice and orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, with text by Québec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
icon Michel Rivard
Michel Rivard
Michel Rivard , is a singer-songwriter and musician from Quebec. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His father was an actor, Robert Rivard...
. The last two works are part of his work with the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, where he serves as composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
in residence (2008–2010).
His two most recent works combine aspects of his now almost 30-year career in creative music. Amplify, Multiply, Remix and Redefine (in memory of Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
) (2009) is a 30-minute work for 21 electric guitars
Electric Guitars
Electric Guitars were formed early in 1980 by Neil Davenport and Richard Hall who were both studying English at Bristol University. The band soon increased to a five-man line-up, with Andy Saunders , Matt Salt and Dick Truscott , they also later added two backing singers: Sara and Wendy...
and symphony orchestra, commissioned by the Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
Symphony Orchestra, which brings together his love of guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, improvisation, composition
Musical form
The term musical form refers to the overall structure or plan of a piece of music, and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections...
and orchestral music. Parts of the work are related to the 1997 work The Body Electric
The Body Electric
The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life is a book by Robert O. Becker and Gary Selden in which Becker, an orthopedic surgeon at the time working for the Veterans Administration, describes his research into "our bioelectric selves"....
. The recent 15 Stages in the Search for Radium and Love (2009) is his second collaboration with poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Douglas Burnet Smith
Douglas Burnet Smith
Douglas Burnet Smith is a Canadian poet. He is the author of twelve volumes of poetry. His Voices from a Farther Room was nominated for the Governor General's Award, the most prestigious literary award in Canada. In addition to winning numerous poetry awards, in 1989 Mr. Smith won The Malahat...
and is a 40-minute work for large chamber ensemble dealing with the life of Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
. It is structurally it is situated somewhere between a song-cycle and a music theatre piece, with theatrical actions specified at times for both the singer/soloist and the musicians, but with no specific set, staging
Staging (theatre)
Staging is the process of selecting, designing, adapting to, or modifying the performance space for a play or film. This includes the use or absence of stagecraft elements as well as the structure of the stage and its components....
, lighting
Lighting
Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...
or scenario
Scenario
A scenario is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the Commedia dell'arte it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play that was literally pinned to the back of the scenery...
. The work is written for soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
Halifax Janice Jackson, commissioned by the AVENTA ensemble of Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
.
CDs and DVDs on Ambiances magnètiques
- 2010 - 24 Frames: Trance
- 2009 - My 20th Century
- 2007 - SCAT (because we all have voices and stories to tell)
- 2006 - GO [guitar obsession]
- 2005 - Three Cities in the Life of Dr. Norman BethuneNorman BethuneHenry Norman Bethune was a Canadian physician and medical innovator. Bethune is best known for his service in war time medical units during the Spanish Civil War and with the Communist Eighth Route Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War...
- 2004 - Playing Guitar: SymphonySymphonyA symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
#1 - 2003 - Unison Rituals
- 2002 - Twenty Quarter Inch
CDs on Justin Time Records
- 2000 - 10 Collaborations
- 1997 - Strange Attractors
- 1996 - Revolutionary Songs
- 1994 - Scenarios
- 1992 - Imaginary Guitars
- 1991 – Inventions
- 1990 - Double Variations
- 1988 – Visions
Vinyl
- 1987 - Persistence of Vision (Apparition Records)
- 1985 - dR.E.aM.s (Apparition Records)
- 1984 - Music for Solo Piano (Apparition Records)
- 1983 - Chalk Paper (C-Note Records)
As composer
The following compositions by Tim Brady are also featured on compact discs:- Slow Dances - for clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and string quartetString quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
- Jean-Guy Boisver (cl.) + Quatuor Bozzini (CD: “Le livres des méloncoliques”) - public space / private music - for solo tapeTape MusicTape Music is an experimental 10" vinyl release by Jack Dangers. The vinyl release was coupled with the album Sounds Of The 20th Century No2 when released as a flexi disc vinyl....
(installationInstallation artInstallation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
) - on "4 X 4 Commissions" CD, limited edition put out by the Centre for Contemporary Arts in GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
(2001) - Quartet 1998 - for saxophone quartet - on self-titled CD by the group QuasarQuasarA quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
- Waiter, Waiter, Call the Manager - for big bandBig bandA big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
- on the self-titled CD by the KAPPA ensemble (1998) - Trois histoires - Brady's performance of Roche noire (chronique irlandaise) appears on this recordingRecordingRecording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
of music by composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
/ guitaristGuitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
René LussierRené LussierRené Lussier is a musician based in the province of Québec, Canada. He is a composer, guitarist, bass guitarist, percussionist, bass clarinetist and singer. Lussier has collaborated with such figures as Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Jean Derome and Robert M. Lepage... - Circling - original version for fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
- on Marie-Josée Simard and Lise Daoust's CD "L'Aube Enchantée - Enchanted Dawn" - Reaching Past - for harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
and tapeTape MusicTape Music is an experimental 10" vinyl release by Jack Dangers. The vinyl release was coupled with the album Sounds Of The 20th Century No2 when released as a flexi disc vinyl....
- on Vivienne Spiteri's "New Music for HarpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
from CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the Netherlands" - Changes - for pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, vibraphoneVibraphoneThe vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
and marimbaMarimbaThe marimba is a musical instrument in the percussion family. It consists of a set of wooden keys or bars with resonators. The bars are struck with mallets to produce musical tones. The keys are arranged as those of a piano, with the accidentals raised vertically and overlapping the natural keys ...
- on Marie-Josée Simard's self-titled solo CD - Doubling - solo harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
version - on Vivienne Spiteri's "comme si l'hydrogène...the desert speaks"
Magazine Articles & Reviews
- Guitar PlayerGuitar PlayerGuitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
Magazine – review 1985; articles: 1994, 1997, 2007 - Down BeatDown BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
Magazine - CD reviews 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005; preview article, 2008 - Musicworks Magazine – 1997 article by Andrew Hurlbut, numerous CD & concertConcertA concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
reviews over the years, articles by Brady on a variety of issues - The Wire (magazine)The Wire (magazine)The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
- article, 1991; reviewReviewA review is an evaluation of a publication, a product or a service, such as a movie , video game, musical composition , book ; a piece of hardware like a car, home appliance, or computer; or an event or performance, such as a live music concert, a play, musical theater show or dance show...
, 2007 - La scena musicale – cover article, 2004
- Paroles & Musique Magazine (SOCAN) – cover article, 2002
- The Canadian Composer (CAPAC) – article, 1983
- Option (music magazine)Option (music magazine)Option was a music magazine based in Los Angeles, California.-History:Originally called OPtion, it, along with Sound Choice, were the dual successors to the earlier music magazine OP, published by John Foster and the Lost Music Network and known for its diverse scope and the role it played in...
– article, 1989 - Canadian Musician MagazineMusician (magazine)Musician was a monthly magazine that covered news and information about American popular music. Initially called "Music America", it was founded in 1976 by Sam Holdsworth and Gordon Baird. The two friends borrowed $20,000 from relatives and started the publication in a barn in Colorado...
- 1993 - Avancées Magazine (FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) – 1993 - Le Dauphiné (AnnecyAnnecyAnnecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva.-Administration:...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) – 1993 - La Nouvelle République (FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) – 1993 - Toronto EYEEye (magazine)Eye Magazine, The International Review of Graphic Design is a quarterly print magazine on graphic design and visual culture.- History :...
Magazine – article, 1993 - OPUS Magazine (TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) – article, 2007 - Whole Note Magazine (TorontoTorontoToronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
) – article, 2004 - Electronic MusicianElectronic MusicianElectronic Musician is a monthly magazine published by Penton Media featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians....
– article, July 1, 2005 - Opera CanadaOpera Canada- Citations :-External links:****...
Magazine – review, 2005 - Grok MagazineGrok MagazineGrok Magazine is an Australian student magazine. It is written and produced by Curtin University students and published by the Curtin Student Guild. 2009 will see 5 issues published, and approximately 10,000 copies distributed per issue...
(Perth) – article, 2007 - Allaboutjazz (online publication) - review, May 22, 2008
Multiple references
Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto StarToronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, Toronto NOW Magazine, Montréal La Presse, The Gazette
The Gazette (Montreal)
The Gazette, often called the Montreal Gazette to avoid ambiguity, is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with three other daily English newspapers all having shut down at different times during the second half of the 20th century.-History:In 1778,...
, Le Devoir
Le Devoir
Le Devoir is a French-language newspaper published in Montreal and distributed in Quebec and the rest of Canada. It was founded by journalist, politician, and nationalist Henri Bourassa in 1910....
, Voir
Voir
Voir is a chain of francophone alternative weekly newspapers in the Canadian province of Quebec published by Communications Voir.The magazine was founded by Pierre Paquet in November 1986.-Editions:The newspaper publishes separate local editions in:...
(Montréal, Québec City), Halifax Chronicle-Herald
Halifax Chronicle-Herald
The Chronicle Herald is a broadsheet published in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The largest newspaper company in Nova Scotia, The Chronicle Herald is also the highest circulation newspaper in the Atlantic provinces and is currently the largest independently owned newspaper company in Canada...
, Vancouver Georgia Straight, Kitchener-Waterloo Record, Philadelphia Inquirer, Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
Single references
New York Village Voice (1991), Edmonton Journal (1991), Mannheimer Morgan (2007), Rhein-Neckar Zeitung (2007), Die Reihnpalz (1995), Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Union Times (1993), Quebec City Le Soleil (1996), The Galsgow Scotsman (1999), AF of M International Musician (1999), Sydney Morning Herald (2000), Copenhagen Berlingske Tilden (2001), Bolzano Corriere delle Apli (2001), Bolzanno Il Mattino (2001), Dublin Irish Times (1998), Baseler Agenda (2004), Sherbrooke La Tribune (2005)Programmes
Huddersfield Contemporary Music FestivalHuddersfield Contemporary Music Festival
The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival is held in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a repertoire of cutting-edge jazz, orchestral, choral and electroacoustic performances, along with film, dance and music theatre...
, INA
Institut national de l'audiovisuel
The Institut national de l'audiovisuel , is a repository of all French radio and television audiovisual archives. Additionally it provides customers with a free and immediate access to archives of countries such as Afghanistan and Cambodia...
-GRM (Radio-France), Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
Symphony Orchestra New Music Festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
, festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, Bang on a Can Festival, Relâche ensemble, Esprit Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Orchestre symphonique de Laval, G.M.E.M. (Marseilles), Interpretations Series (New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
), The Kitchen
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...
, Auros New Music Ensemble, New Ear Ensemble, Conseil québécois de la musique – Prix OPUS, Festival Les Coups de Théâtre (Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
), OUTPUT Festival, CALARTS REDCAT Theatre (Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
), Edmonton Jazz City, Festival international de jazz de Montréal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
.
Books
- The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada ISBN 0-8020-2881-0 and ISBN 978-0-8020-2881-5
- The Canadian Encyclopedia ISBN 0-88830-326-2
- The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Contemporary Music by Brian Morton ISBN 0-631-20138-6 and ISBN 978-0-631-20138-0
Record catalogues
- Justin Time RecordsJustin Time RecordsJustin Time Records, Inc. is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal. It was established in 1983 and specialises mostly in jazz and blues...
(1988–2000) - Ambiances MagnétiquesAmbiances MagnétiquesAmbiances Magnétiques is a non-profit, Canadian musical collective, which was formed in 1982 by a group of independent musicians and producers from Montreal. The entity was formed out of necessity: the avant-garde tastes of the members — which include jazz, classical, folk, and rock —...
(2002–present)
Archives
- Innovations en concert
- Bradyworks
- Canadian New Music Network
- Canadian Music Centre
- Music Gallery archives
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation archives
- Société Radio-Canada archives
- British Broadcasting Corporation archives
- Radio-France (INA-GRM) archives