As part of Black History Month 2021, Soundstreams highlighted my work. This included profiles of several of my compositions with newly written introductions by me (Kalimba Canon, Companion and Linea Nigra), which can be found here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3.
Category: Personal
Interview with James Tenney
Recorded at The Music Gallery, 179 Richmond Street West, TorontoMay 3, 2000 Paul Hodge, audio engineer This interview was the result of my wish to have a final conversation with Tenney before he and his family left Toronto for California, where he was to resume teaching at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) after… Continue reading Interview with James Tenney
Livestream and Programme for “The Music of Bruce A. Russell”
Here is the link for tonight’s first-ever concert of my music by The Array Ensemble. Viewing is free or by optional donation. You may be asked to create a free account in order to access the livestream. Please consider donating to Arraymusic as they are a historic and vital part of Toronto’s new music scene,… Continue reading Livestream and Programme for “The Music of Bruce A. Russell”
Arraymusic Presents “The Music of Bruce A. Russell”
In two weeks, on Saturday, November 21st at 8 pm EST, the Array Ensemble will present the first ever live concert dedicated to my music, featuring all world premieres. It will be livestreamed from https://www.arraymusic.ca/brucerussell/ and tickets are by donation (or free). The performers are legends: Stephen Clarke and Wesley Shen on pianos, and Rick… Continue reading Arraymusic Presents “The Music of Bruce A. Russell”
Black on Steve’s Birthday!
Iconic composer Steve Reich turns 84 today. He was recently alleged to have made some pointedly anti-Black racist remarks in the early 70s. Today is also a kind of late emergence for me; my first performance on a symphony orchestra program (albeit of a chamber work). As a child, I first heard the n-word, directed… Continue reading Black on Steve’s Birthday!
Emergence: Linea Nigra in Concert
My octet for strings Linea Nigra (2015) will receive its world premiere this Saturday, October 3rd at 7:30 pm MDT, in the release of a prerecorded performance by the San Juan Symphony, conducted by music director Thomas Heuser. It will feature as part of a program entitled “Black Voices and A Ballet for Martha,” which… Continue reading Emergence: Linea Nigra in Concert
A Juneteenth Musing
The northern Great Lakes steel town took a big fat eraser to my Blackness. The adults had no way to acknowledge it because it exposed the cognitive dissonance of my existence in their world, and thus had no way to deal with the bullies, the rednecks and the N-wordage that swarmed around me like black… Continue reading A Juneteenth Musing
Larger in the Past
Grateful for so much as my history unfolds in reverse. Summer’s first journey to my birth mother’s home, with a family whom I’m so proud of with me. Upon our return my paternal side manifested. A grandfather in the Jim Crow South. Voice on the line who shared this family’s history of migration to the… Continue reading Larger in the Past
EL MAHBOOB 