Charles Bruffy
One of the most admired choral conductors in the United States, Charles Bruffy began his career as a tenor soloist, performing with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in recordings and concerts in France, and in concerts at Carnegie Hall. Shaw encouraged his development as a conductor and in 1996, Mr. Bruffy was asked by National Public Radio to help celebrate Shaw’s eightieth birthday with an on-air tribute. In 1999, The New York Times named him as the late, great conductor’s potential heir, and in 2005 Fanfare magazine called him ‘one of the next big things in American choral music.’ He has been Artistic Director of the Kansas City Chorale since 1988 and of the Phoenix Chorale since 1999.
Respected and renowned for his fresh and passionate interpretations of standards of the choral music repertoire and for championing new music, he has commissioned and premiered works by American composers including Jean Belmont, Matthew Harris, Libby Larsen, Zhou Long, Stephen Paulus, Stephen Sametz, Steven Stucky, Eric Whitacre and Chen Yi. Under his supervision the Roger Dean Company, a division of the Lorenz Corporation publishes a choral series specializing in music for professional ensembles and sophisticated high school and college choirs.
Charles Bruffy conducts workshops and clinics across the U.S., serves on the Advisory Board of the Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde, and served on the Chorus America Board for over seven years. He is starting his second season at the Artistic Director of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus.
Increasingly busy on the international scene, he recently conducted performances of Verdi’s Requiem at the Sydney Opera House in Australia and in the summer of 2009, conducted members of his two professional choirs at the Incheon International Choir Festival in South Korea. Charles Bruffy’s eclectic discography includes the Chandos recordings “Shakespeare in Song,” “Eternal Rest,” “Grechaninov: Passion Week,” “Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works” and “Spotless Rose: Hymns to the Virgin Mary.”
