Tim Brady
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Timothy Wesley John Brady (born 11 July 1956) is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. 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 guitars 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 early recognized works are the 1982 orchestral pieces Variants and Visions, his Chamber Concerto (1985), the chamber trio ...in the Wake... (1985, 1988), and his song cycle Revolutionary Songs (1994).[1]
He is internationally recognized as one of the world's leading experimental/new music guitarists (
Biography
Early years and studies
Brady was born in
Brady studied music at
The Toronto period (1980–1986)
In 1980 Brady moved to
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
First recordings, first productions
Brady also recorded and produced his first 4
Brady's Toronto years also mark the beginning of his work as a concert
During this period his various jazz groups/
London interval (1986–1987)
From 1986 to 1987 Brady lived in
Montreal, part 1: Bradyworks (1987–1997)
Upon returning to Montreal in 1987, Brady 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
This project, as with almost all of his recorded productions since 1988, was produced in collaboration with
1992 saw the release of his landmark solo guitar and electronics CD Imaginary Guitars. This was followed by several other solo guitar CDs, all focusing on
The Body Electric Festival (1997)
Since 1994 Brady had been running the concert 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
Bradyworks – vocal music (1997–2000)
Parallel to his work as a guitarist, his interest in
. The project was never completed due to difficulties in working with 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
A second Bradyworks song-cycle followed, entitled The Knife Thrower's Partner (1997), using only a quartet of
Montreal, part 2: operas, Ambiances magnétiques, CNMN (2002–2005 )
In 2002 Brady parted company amicably with
2002 saw the premiere of his 45-minute, multi-movement work Playing Guitar: Symphony #1, for solo electric guitar,
The next few years would be occupied with the creation and production of Brady's two chamber operas: 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
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).[2] The CNMN is a large, pan-Canadian movement to make contemporary creative concert music a more vibrant part of Canadian society. The organization brings artists together in an annual event entitled FORUM, held in a different Canadian city each year (Winnipeg – 2007, Toronto – 2008, Montreal – 2009).[3] Brady is the current president of the CNMN (2005–2010). Since 2004 he has served on the board of directors of The Music Gallery.
Return of the solo (now multi-media) guitarist / orchestral maneuvers (2006–present)
In 2006 Brady released his first solo CD in 6 years, GO [guitar obsession], signaling a renewed interest in electric guitar music. The CD combined several of his works with pieces by composers Alex Burton,
2006 saw the first of two major collaborations with Montréal
Brady's renewed interest in solo performance led 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, and at Rosza Hall in Calgary in 2012.
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. 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
The relationship with Laval created the first version of his work "Requiem 21.5 – concerto for violin and orchestra", as well as his "Viola Concerto", written for OSL violist Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot. From 2011 – 2015 Brady worked closely with Symphony Nova Scotia, in Halifax, premiering both final version of "Requiem 21.5" as well as a commissioned work: "The How and the Why of Memory: Symphony #4". These two works, along with the Viola Concerto, were recorded for Centrediscs, and released in 2015. The CD won an East Coast Music Award for Best Classical CD.
His work "Atacama: Symphony #3" was premiered in 2012, released in ATMA Classique in 2013, and nominated for a Juno that year. It was performed as well at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (2013) and in New York at National Sawdust in 2015, but David T. Little's Newspeak Ensemble and Trinity Wall Street Choir, conducted by Julian Wachner.
2015 saw the premier of his chamber opera "Ghost Tango" (libretto by Douglas Smith) in Halifax (NS), and Kitchener (ON), and 2016 saw the release of the first CD of his new electric guitar quartet, Instruments of Happiness, on the US Starkland Records label. From 2014 – 2017 he also worked on the music for choreographer Isabelle van Grimde's multi-media piece "Symphonie 5.1", in collaboration with drummer Thom Gossage. The work toured to Canada, The Netherlands and France. The Instruments of Happiness Quartet did a major Canadian tour in 2017, performing in Edmonton, Halifax, Regina, Brandon, Winnipeg, Victoria, and Montreal.
2015 also saw his fort work for 100 spatialised electric guitars "100 Very Good Reasons Why", performed at the Montreal/Nouvelles Musiqeu Festival. A YouTube video of that work has proved quite popular. In 2016 he presented another work for 100 guitars – "100 questions, 100 réponse", this time in a church. The work was featured in an article on the history of the electric guitar in UK's Guardian newspaper in August 2016.
In 2014, after 9 years at the head of the Canadian New Music Network, he stepped down as president. He served on the board until 2017, but is still active in cultural policy development. He was awarded the Canadian Music Centre/Canadian League of Composers, "Friends of Canadian Music Award" in 2016 for his work at CNMN.
Two major chamber works were premiered at the 2017 Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville: "Désir: concerto for electric guitar and large ensemble" and "8 Songs about: Symphony #7". Brady was the soloist in the concerto, and conducted the symphony, which featured the voices of Vincent Ranallo and Sarah Albu. Both works are for a chamber group of 13 players, and were recorded for release in 2018.
Instruments of Happiness (2015 – )
In 2015 Brady launched the Instruments of Happiness electric guitar project. The project has 3 parts: an electric guitar chamber quartet, a guitar ensemble of 12 – 20 professionals, and large, site-specific projects for 100 to 150 electric guitars, primarily based around using community, amateur performers. The quartet toured Canada in 2017, and again in 2018 with singer Marie-Annick Béliveau, and made a small US tour in 2019 (New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago). Major site-specific projects for 100 – 150 guitars (all of which are filmed and available on YouTube) include: 2015 – 100 Very Good Reasons Why – Festival MNM – Montreal
2016 – 100 Questions, 100 Réponses – Église le Gesù, Montréal 2016 – 100 Very Good Reasons Why – Modulus Festival – Vancouver 2017 – Hymne Sauvage – Complex Desjardins – Montreal (music by Alexandre David) 2017 – 100 Very Good Reasons Why – Stratford Summer Music Festival – Stratford, ON
2018 – While 100 Guitar Gently Weep – Luminato Festival – Toronto
2019 – As Many Strings As Possible, Playing: Symphony #9 – St. Joseph's Oratory – Festival MNM – Montreal
2021 – Virtual Concerto for an Imaginary Space – an iPhone/video-based production for 62 socially distanced electric guitars
With the exception of the 2017 "Hymne sauvage" project, (music by composer Alexandre David) all the music for the site-specific project is composed by Tim Brady.
Recordings
As leader/composer/soloist
CDs
- 2021 – Actions Speak Louder – 3 CD-set – Act 1 – Solo – Simple Loops in Complex Times / Act. 2 – Of Sound, Mind and Body – Triple Concerto: Because Everything Has Changed / Act. 3 – Voices – Bradyworks, Mirror Image (Redshift Records)
- 2019 – Instruments of Happiness – The Happiness Handbook (Starkland Records)
- 2018 – Music for Large Ensemble – Tim Brady (Starkland records)
- 2016 – Instruments of Happiness – electric guitar quartet (Starkland records)
- 2016 – Of Sound, Mind and Body: concert #3 (improvised music) (Redshift Records)
- 2015 – The How and the Why of Memory – Symphony Nova Scotia (Centrediscs)
- 2013 – Atacama: Symphonie #3 (ATMA Classique) – JUNO nomination 2014
CDs and DVDs on Ambiances magnètiques
- 2011 – 24 Frames: Scatter
- 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 Bethune
- 2004 – Playing Guitar: Symphony #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 (with John Abercrombie)
- 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 clarinet and string quartet – Jean-Guy Boisver (cl.) + Quatuor Bozzini (CD: "Le livres des méloncoliques")
- public space / private music – for solo tape (installation) – on "4 × 4 Commissions" CD, limited edition put out by the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland(2001)
- Quartet 1998 – for saxophone quartet – on self-titled CD by the group Quasar
- Waiter, Waiter, Call the Manager – for big band – on the self-titled CD by the KAPPA ensemble (1998)
- Trois histoires – Brady's performance of Roche noire (chronique irlandaise) appears on this recording of music by composer / guitarist René Lussier
- Circling – original version for flute and vibraphone – on Marie-Josée Simard and Lise Daoust's CD "L'Aube Enchantée – Enchanted Dawn"
- Reaching Past – for the Netherlands"
- Changes – for piano, vibraphone and marimba – on Marie-Josée Simard's self-titled solo CD
- Doubling – solo harpsichord version – on Vivienne Spiteri's "comme si l'hydrogène...the desert speaks"
Sources
Magazine articles and reviews
- Guitar Player Magazine – review 1985; articles: 1994, 1997, 2007
- DownBeat Magazine – CD reviews 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005; preview article, 2008
- Musicworks Magazine – 1997 article by Andrew Hurlbut, numerous CD & concert reviews over the years, articles by Brady on a variety of issues[4]
- The Wire – article, 1991; review, 2007
- La scena musicale– cover article, 2004
- Paroles & Musique Magazine (SOCAN) – cover article, 2002[5]
- The Canadian Composer (CAPAC) – article, 1983
- Option – article, 1989
- Canadian Musician Magazine – 1993[6]
- Avancées Magazine (France) – 1993
- Le Dauphiné (Annecy, France) – 1993
- La Nouvelle République (France) – 1993
- Toronto EYE Magazine – article, 1993[7]
- OPUS Magazine (Toronto) – article, 2007[8]
- Whole Note Magazine (Toronto) – article, 2004[9]
- Electronic Musician – article, 1 July 2005[10]
- Opera Canada Magazine – review, 2005[11]
- Grok Magazine (Perth) – article, 2007
- Allaboutjazz (online publication) – review, 22 May 2008[12]
Newspapers
Multiple references
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 Glasgow 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
Books
- [1] = Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
- The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Contemporary Music by Brian Morton ISBN 978-0-631-20138-0
Record catalogues
- Justin Time Records (1988–2000)
- Ambiances Magnétiques (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
Notes
- ^ Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, by James Hale, 30 August 2019
- ^ "CNMN". www.newmusicnetwork.ca. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017.
- ^ "Forum – CNMN".
- ^ "MusicWorks: Home". MusicWorks. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Numéro hiver 2008, aperçu". Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "Canadian Musician: Home". Canadian Musician. Archived from the original on 29 April 2009. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ "Eye Weekly". Archived from the original on 9 September 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "Welcome to OPUS - Canada's Essential Classical Music Source, since 1978™". Archived from the original on 6 September 2008. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ "The Whole Note: Home". The Whole Note. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
- ^ Six-String Symphony by Matt Gallagher
- ^ "Opera Canada". Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2009.
- ^ Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville: Day 2 – May 16, 2008 by John Kellman