Tim Brady, composer and electric guitar

TIM BRADY: Composer & Electric Guitarist | 2009/10 Season Highlights

My 20th Century
CD & DVD release September 29 | 10-City Canadian Tour
20TH ANNIVERSARY OF BRADYWORKS
Featured Composer, WINNIPEG NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL, February 2010
Tribute to Les Paul for 20 Electric Guitars, Guitar Solo & Orchestra

"Brady is a true mad scientist of guitar sound, placed on Earth, it seems, to smash the barriers between high and low culture. His wild guitar sounds are daggers in the heart of classical music pretense...’Äù - Hour Weekly

Groundbreaking Montreal-based electric guitarist and composer Tim Brady, renowned for his radiant orchestrations and innovations in creating a new voice for the electric guitar, celebrates the 20th Anniversary of his ensemble Bradyworks this season, with a new CD and DVD, a cross-Canada tour of his extraordinary music/video/theatre work My 20th Century, the premiere of Requiem 21.5, a new work for Orchestre symphonique de Laval (where he is composer in residence), culminating in a residency at the Winnipeg New Music Festival where three of his large-scale works will be featured, including the world premiere of a work in memory of Les Paul for 20 electric guitars, electric guitar solo and orchestra. A unique artist on the new music scene, Brady has been declared "our prince of accessible avant-garde" (Montreal Gazette) and ’Äúthe leading proponent of gaining acceptance of the electric guitar in new music (Downbeat Magazine). And, as a solo guitarist, he continues to make an unforgettable impact with his "astonishing virtuosity and brilliant mastery of tone colour.’Äù (Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen)

Premiered in 2006, My 20th Century: A music/video/theatre narrative in 4 works, completed a 5-city Quebec tour last year and now reaches 10 additional Canadian cities this season (9 this fall, with the addition of Winnipeg in February). The first performance, at Montreal’Äôs Espace dell’Äôarte on September 29th, is also the launch of the new CD/DVD on the Ambience Magnˆ©tiques label. Written by Tim Brady with video by Brady, Martin Messier and Oana Suteu, the recording features Bradyworks: Brady on electric guitar, saxophonist Andrˆ© Leroux (an ensemble member for 18 years), Catherine Meunier on percussion, David Cronkite, sampler, and pianist Brigitte Poulin (pianist Pamela Reimer performs on tour). Montreal’Äôs Quatuor Molinari is also featured on the recording.

Over the course of 80 minutes, My 20th Century examines and deconstructs four pivotal events in the 20th century, viewing each through the lens of an entirely new soundscape. 1: Strumming (Hommage ˆÝ John Lennon) focuses on 1963-64, following the Kennedy assassination and the arrival of The Beatles in North America. 2: Traces (Hommage ˆÝ Charlie Christian) brings us back to 1939-42, as black jazz guitarist Charlie Christian joins white clarinetist Benny Goodman on stage at Carnegie Hall ’Äì the first time in America that black and white made music together as equals in such a public manner. 3: Hommage ˆÝ Rose Luxemburg (Casino Adagio), based in 1993 and inspired by the Jean-Paul Riopelle painting of the same name, investigates the convergence of money, politics and art. 4/5/6: Double Quartet (Hommage ˆÝ Dmitri Shostakovich) spans most of the century (1906-75) over three movements, each dealing with a different aspect of the composer’Äôs astonishing life ’Äì two world wars, revolution, a brutal dictatorship, and the composition of immensely powerful and deeply personal musical works. Following the performance in Montreal, My 20th Century will tour to Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Toronto (presented by New Music Concerts on Saturday, October 17), Halifax, Moncton, Ottawa and Waterloo, as well as in Winnipeg in February. (See schedule below.)

At this season’Äôs Winnipeg New Music Festival, February 12-18, 2010, which is internationally renowned for innovative programming, Tim Brady is a featured guest composer. His residency includes performances of My 20th Century, Guess Who Symphony (a radical deconstruction and re-composition of the songs "American Woman", "These Eyes" and "Runnin" Back to Saskatoon", performed by Vancouver blues singer Ndidi Onakalu, with the WSO) and the premiere of Amplify, Multiply, Remix and Redefine (in memory of Les Paul). This new work for a 20-piece electric guitar ensemble, solo electric guitar and orchestra celebrates the life and work of the legendary electric guitar and recording pioneer, who died on August 13th.

Composer and guitarist Tim Brady has created music in a wide range of genres ranging from chamber and orchestral music to electroacoustic works, chamber opera, contemporary dance scores, jazz and free improvisation. His work has been commissioned by numerous ensembles in North America and Europe including the Orchestre symphonique de Montrˆ©al, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Sociˆ©tˆ© de musique contemporaine du Quˆ©bec, New Music Concerts, INA-GRM (Radio-France), Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Esprit Orchestra (CBC), Relˆ¢che ensemble (Philadelphia), Australian group Topology, and The Smith Quartet (UK). Recent works include two operas (Bethune and The Salome Dancer) and two symphonies (Playing Guitar: Symphony #1 and The Choreography of Time: Symphony #2). He has released 14 CDs on Justin Time Records and, more recently, on the Ambiances Magnˆ©tiques label. Brady regularly tours North America, Europe, Asia and Australia as an electric guitar soloist, performing at leading venues including The South Bank Centre and the ICA (London), The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), Bang on a Can Festival (NY), De Ijsbreker (Amsterdam), Radio-France Festival Prˆ©sence (Paris) and the Darwin International Guitar Festival (Australia). His ensemble, Bradyworks, has toured Canada five times, performed in the US and Europe, and records regularly for both CBC and Radio-Canada. In 2004 Tim Brady was awarded the Prix OPUS for "Composer of the Year" by the Conseil quˆ©bˆ©cois de la musique and in 2006 he was awarded the Jan. V. Matejzek prize by SOCAN.

www.timbrady.ca


My 20th Century Canadian Tour
Tuesday, Sept. 29 8pm Espace dell’ÄôArte Montreal, QC www.dell-arte.net
Saturday, Oct. 3 8pm Eckhadrt-Gramattˆ© Hall Calgary, AB www.newworkscalgary.ca
Sunday, Oct. 4 3pm Edmon. Public Library Theatre Edmonton, AB www.eccsociety.com
Thursday, Oct. 15 8pm William Ridell Centre Regina, SK
Saturday, Oct. 17 8pm Isabel Bader Theatre Toronto, ON www.newmusicconcerts.com
Thursday, Oct. 22 8pm CBC Radio Room Halifax, NS www.upstream.squarespace.com
Saturday, Oct. 24 8pm Capitol Theatre Moncton, NB www.capitol.nb.ca
Thursday, Nov. 5 8pm Carleton University Ottawa, ON www.onmc-cmno.ca
Friday, Nov. 6 8pm Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON

www.numus.on.ca