David Bruce
David Bruce is developing a growing international reputation as a composer, particularly in the field of opera and vocal music. Current commissions include from Carnegie Hall, for clarinettist Todd Palmer and the St Lawrence String Quartet (Oct 2008); BARD College, NY, for a new opera/oratorio A Bird in Your Ear (March 2008); Lake District Summer Music for a piece including string quartet; and a development commission from the Royal Opera House's ROH2 for a new chamber opera.
In April 2007, the Carnegie Hall Corporation commissioned Piosenki. The success of Piosenki led to follow-on performances later in the year by Ensemble ACJW, including a repeat performance at Weill Hall.
Bruce's chamber opera Push! was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation and premiered by Tête à Tête in London and on tour in the UK in 2006. Push! received extrordinary levels of critical acclaim and was critics choice for 2006 in both the Telegraph and Classical Music Magazine.
Previous commissions include the mini-operas Out of the Ordinary, for the Opera Group, Has it Happened Yet? (2002) for ENO Studios and Tête à Tête; Seven Tons of Dung for Tête à Tête (1999); incidental music to the Trestle Theatre Company's show The Smallest Person (2004); and instrumental pieces for the London Sinfonietta, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New Music Players and others.
Bruce has been recognised by distinguished musicians as varied in style and approach as Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Osvaldo Golijov, both of whom nominated him as their sole candidate for the prestigious Lili Boulanger Memorial Award. Other prizes include the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Competition in 1994.
David Bruce was born in Connecticut, USA to British parents (he holds both UK and US citizenships). He began his undergraduate studies in music in 1988 at Nottingham University (composition tutors included Jim Fulkerson and Nicholas Sackman), before moving on to the Royal College of Music (1991-93) where he obtained a Masters Degree in Composition, studying with Tim Salter and George Benjamin; and a PhD in Composition at King's College, London (1995-99), 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, the melody search engine TuneSpotting, and the composers' site CompositionToday.
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