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Respected
and renowned for his fresh and passionate interpretations of standards of the
choral repertory as well as new music, Charles Bruffy is
one of the most admired choral conductors in the United States. He is dedicated
to commissioning and premiering works by contemporary American composers and
has received ASCAP's Adventurous Programming award.
Recent
commissions and premieres include works by Jean Belmont, Matthew Harris, Libby
Larsen, Zhou Long, Stephen Paulus, Stephen Sametz, Steven Stucky, Eric
Whitacre, and Chen Yi. The Roger Dean Company, a division of the Lorenz
Corporation, under Bruffy's supervision, publishes a choral series specializing
in music for professional ensembles and sophisticated high school and college
choirs.
Bruffy has served as
artistic director of the Phoenix Chorale (formerly Phoenix Bach Choir) since
1999 and the Kansas City Chorale since 1988. Both choirs are praised for their
live performances and recordings. Bruffy's eclectic discography of over 13
recordings includes music by Argento, Brahms, Corigliano, Gretchaninov, Martin,
Mäntyjärvi, Rachmaninoff, and Vaughan Williams. His recording with the Kansas
City Chorale and the Phoenix Chorale of Grechaninov's "Passion Week," won a
2007 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Classical Recording.
A Board Member of Chorus America, Charles Bruffy conducts workshops and
clinics across the U.S., most recently at the Westminster Choir College of
Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey, and for the National Association of
Church Musicians' convention in Long Beach, California. Increasingly busy on
the international scene, he recently conducted performances of Verdi's Requiem at
the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
Also an active tenor soloist, he performed with the Robert Shaw
Festival Singers in recordings and concerts in France, and in concerts at
Carnegie Hall. He is a featured soloist on the Robert Shaw release "Appear and Inspire." Mr. Bruffy received his bachelor's
degree from Missouri Western State College in St. Joseph, Missouri, and his master's
degree in vocal performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of
Missouri Kansas City, where he also completed all course work for his Doctor of
Musical Arts degree in conducting. Additionally, Mr. Bruffy has received
honorary doctorates from Baker University and Missouri Western State
University.
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