This is a matrix in the original sense of "source". It is a "small-world" network, meaning that the nodes (people) inside it are — mirroring human society — within a few steps of everybody else inside it. The matrix was built to allow regional Brazilian musicians to be discoverable steps away from everybody else in the arts world, and by logical necessity this m.o. requires not only that the great Brazilians be matrixed, but so far as possible, all working artists in our time. Ergo:
THIS MATRIX, THOUGH BRAZIL-BORN, IS UNIVERSAL
This David Bruce matrix node is steps away from the entire planet by the well-known small-world ("6 degrees") phenomenon dictating that in human society you yourself are within several degrees of David Bruce.
1 DEGREE FORWARD: David Bruce (node) ROUTES TO THESE ARTIST NODES
Are these David Bruce's personal recommendations?
CURATION STATUS
- → Routes by The Matrix
Who & Where
- Name: David Bruce
- City/Place: London
- Country: United Kingdom
Life & Work
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Bio:
Born in Stamford, Connecticut in 1970, David Bruce grew up in England and now enjoys a growing reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. Bruce's music draws on the wild dances and heart-felt laments of gypsy music, flamenco, klezmer and other folk traditions, as well as having a direct connection to composers like Stravinsky, Janacek, Berio and Bartok who shared similar passions. Often witty and always colourful, pulsing with earthy rhythms, Bruce's music has a directness rarely heard in contemporary music, but also contains an emotional core of striking intimacy and sensitivity.
Since the premiere of Piosenki (2006) in Carnegie Hall, Bruce's career in the US has flourished. Carnegie Hall itself has been a huge supporter of Bruce's music, going on to commission Gumboots (2008), Steampunk (2011) and most recently That Time with You for mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor which premiered at the hall in October 2013. In 2009, Dawn Upshaw premiered the song-cycle The North Wind was a Woman commissioned for the gala opening of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center's 2009 season. For 2013-14 Bruce was Associate Composer with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, for whom he wrote three pieces : Night Parade for the orchestra's Carnegie Hall debut in October 2013; the Violin Concerto Fragile Light for Gil Shaham; and Cymbeline featuring mandolinist Avi Avital. Future US commissions include from Camerata Pacifica for a new work for oboe, harp, cello and percussion.
In the UK, recent commissions include Prince Zal and the Simorgh (2012) for the London Philharmonic Orchestra for their BrightSparks series; Fire (2012), one of 20 '20x12' commissions celebrating the Cultural Olympiad; Saudades for long-time collaborators Chroma; the chamber opera The Firework Maker's Daughter (2012) co-commissioned by The Opera Group and ROH2 ; and Nothing, a full length opera co-commissioned by Glyndebourne and ROH.
Other notable recent commissions include a 35 minute chamber work The Given Note (2011) for violinist Daniel Hope together with the David Orlowsky Trio and cellist Vincent Segal, co-commissioned by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, Germany and the Savannah Festival USA; and in 2012, Cut the Rug for Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble. The piece received it's official premiere at Carnegie Hall in October 2013 as part of the ensemble's 15th anniversary celebrations and was toured to numerous high-profile venues around the world, including the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.
Cut the Rug was recorded for the Sony Classical label and released in December 2013. Other recordings include The Eye of Night, commissioned by Art of Elan in San Diego and recorded by the Myriad Trio; and Gumboots, recorded by Julian Bliss and the Carducci Quartet, released on Signum Records in April 2016
Bruce's work in opera has attracted particular attention. A series of short operas for Tete a Tete in London culminated in the Genesis Foundation commission Push! (2006) which was Critic's Choice for 2006 in both The Telegraph and Classical Music Magazine and received universal critical acclaim. In 2008, Dawn Upshaw instigated the commission for his one-act opera A Bird in Your Ear (2008) for Bard College, NY. 2013 brought Bruce's chamber opera The Firework Maker's Daughter which toured the UK and New York in Spring 2013. The piece was also shortlisted for both the British Composer Awards, and the 2014 Olivier Awards for Best New Opera Production. The Firework Maker's Daughter returned to the ROH Lindbury Studios only two years later, for a 27-performance run in December 2015. The premiere of Bruce's largest operatic work to date - Nothing, based on the award-winning novel by Janne Teller, and co-commissioned by Glyndebourne and the Royal Opera House premiered at Glyndebourne in Feb 2016. It brought the most intense response yet, with the Independent calling it "a pretty well flawless piece" and The Stage saying " It's as moving, authentic and thought-provoking an opera you're likely to see for some time." The original prodution of Nothing is scheduled for repeat performances in Denmark in Feb 2017 as part of the Aarhus European Capital of Culture celebrations.
Bruce's music has attracted numerous awards and prizes, including the Lili Boulanger Memorial Prize (2008) and the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Competition (1994). He studied at Nottingham University, the Royal College of Music, London, (with Tim Salter and George Benjamin); and completed a PhD in Composition at King's College, London (1995-9), under the supervision of Sir Harrison Birtwistle.
Complementing his work as a composer, Bruce runs the music and technology company Red Balloon Technology Ltd whose sites include the popular sheet music site 8notes.com and the composers' site CompositionToday.
Contact Information
- Email: davidbrucecomposer@gmail.com
Media & Markets
- ▶ Twitter: davidbruce
- ▶ Instagram: davidbrucecomposer
- ▶ Website: http://www.davidbruce.net
- ▶ Website 2: http://www.red-balloon.com
- ▶ Website 3: http://www.8notes.com
- ▶ Website 4: http://www.compositiontoday.com
- ▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/davidbrucedotnet
- ▶ YouTube Channel 2: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHjcEVdMjIOOlVhtTRq4sDw
- ▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/0TN41uDNpJL8Iqe20sgPcy
- ▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/1ad0lQ9sNsIUavEtj4s9CY
- ▶ Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/davidbruce
Clips (more may be added)
THE MATRIX WAS BUILT HERE, inspired in (the kabbalah-inspired fiction of) Borges' El Aleph, that in the pillar in Cairo's Mosque of Amr, where the universe in its entirety throughout all time is perceivable as an infinite hum from deep within the stone... The Brazilian "aleph" doesn't hum...it sings!
Sprawled across broad equatorial latitudes
Stoked and steamed and sensual in the widest sense of the word
Limned in prosody and cadenced song
brəˈzɪl / from "brasa" / Latin for "ember"
w/ David Dye for U.S. National Public Radio
Given the immense untapped power of the small-world phenomenon, from Brazilians the matrix was expanded to include nodes per jazz artists, given jazz's common roots with Brazilian music (nodes based in publicly available information; some artists we informed — Bob Mintzer, Kamasi Washington, David "Fuse" Fiuczynski, Vijay Iyer, Greg Osby — and got thumbs up, others we'll get to), and moved on from there. Artists/academics/"creative people" are welcome to create their own nodes and curate (connect to other artist nodes, so that others may follow). BTW, our logo is a cortador de cana, cane cutter. It was designed by Walter Mariano, professor of design at the Federal University of Bahia to reflect the origins of the music the shop specializes in.
MUCH MORE on all of this in the window below (which, if you are logged in, will instead contain instructions on recommending), and in the window within that window (which includes a "radio" called by The Guardian one of "10 of the best music radio stations around the world"):
