Bio
Active in a wide variety of music, Bruce has a national profile as a conductor and music educator from coast to coast. His schedule includes classical repertoire from Carnegie Hall to popular appearances with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, and the Hollywood Bowl, leading orchestras with guest artists from Stevie Wonder and Darren Criss to Latin superstars Juanes and Gloria Estefan.
His current Music Director positions include the Adrian Symphony (MI) and the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra (CA). Bruce has conducted at the country’s most storied halls, including the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and SPAC. Bruce has worked with Dmitry Sitkovetsky, David Kim, Tai Murray, Steven Lin, Andrew Tyson, Alexi Kenney, Jeffrey Biegel, Jennifer Check, Anthony Dean Griffey, Darren Criss, Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Minor, Grace Potter, Jason Alexander, Lonny Price, Jodi Benson, Doug LeBrecque, Doc Watson, David Holt, Juanes, Gospel performers Richard Smallwood and Curt Carr, and others. He has prepared orchestras for performances with Simon Rattle, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Thomas Wilkins, and David Robertson. Bruce created several original orchestrations to accompany the legendary rock band “Journey” for their performance at the Hollywood Bowl.
Committed to broadening the scope of so-called Classical music, Bruce actively promotes music by women and composers of color, recently releasing the first-ever recording of the orchestral version of Florence Price’s Suite of Dances. Other projects include the world-premiere recording of the reconstruction of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Bruce’s other passion is music education, where he regularly works with outstanding youth orchestra programs. For five years, Bruce was the YOLA conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he led multiple orchestras of different levels. He also served on the conducting staff of the Greensboro Symphony and the Pasadena Symphony and is active in higher education, where he conducts the University Orchestra and Opera at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Then there’s also his addiction to film music, which finds its way onto many of his concert programs, including complete performances of “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi,” (almost) all the films in the “Harry Potter” series, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Home Alone,” “E.T” “Elf” and a growing list of others. Also, there is his whole musical theater phase, where he served as musical director for dozens of productions, including the original production of Darren Criss (of TV’s “Glee”) “A Very Potter Sequel,” which became a top ten hit on iTunes. He also musical directed “They’re Playing Our Song” at Reprise Theater starring Jason Alexander and Stephanie J. Block, and several productions of the five-time Emmy winner “The News in Revue.”
Recent guest conducting appearances include The San Francisco Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the New Mexico Philharmonic, the Pacific Symphony, the Toledo Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, the Fresno Philharmonic, the Owensboro Symphony, and orchestras in Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Greenville, Huntsville, Madison, San Antonio, San Bernardino, and three years with the Young Artists Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Despite his intrepid schedule, Bruce somehow finds time to vacation a bit. A post-grad year in Colorado turned Bruce into an avid skier who regularly visits New England, Colorado, Tahoe, and Utah resorts. Although based in Los Angeles, he also loves New York City’s cultural scene in classical music and theater. A diagnosed cinephile, he’s grateful that LA has such a lively theater, music, and film scene to enjoy, although Bruce is still grieving the loss of Hollywood’s Arclight Theater in Hollywood, once one of the world’s greatest movie theaters.
Bruce holds graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, The University of Miami, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Gallery
Conducting
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Casual
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YOLA
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