“Adolphe’s music is wonderfully evocative. It excites the ear and the mind.”
1974-1993
Faculty, Juilliard Pre-College Division, composition, theory, solfege. Initiates the Senior Seminar in improvisation and imagination exercises based on theater games. (Results in the book The Mind’s Ear.)
1976-1992
Composes for theater and film companies, including Folger Shakespeare Theater, Washington, DC; La Mama Experimental Theater Club; Bermuda Arts Center; The Acting Company; Harvard Loeb Theater; Center Stage, Baltimore; Shakespeare Theatre Company of Washington; Public Theater, New York; Stone Lantern Films; Sarah Bradley Films; Smithsonian World, PBS.
1982
Premiere of one-act opera The Tell-Tale Heart, based on Poe. Libretto by composer. Premiered by the Opera Theater of Boston and New England Conservatories, directed and conducted by John Moriarty.
World premiere of Mikhoels the Wise – The Story of Solomon Mikhoels, a Yiddish Actor in Stalin’s Soviet Union, opera in two acts; Libretto by Mel Gordon. Commissioned by Jewish Opera at the 92nd Street Y, New York. Amy Kaiser, conductor.
1983
World premiere of The False Messiah, the story of Shabtai Zvi, opera in two acts; libretto by Mel Gordon. Commissioned by Jewish Opera at the 92nd Street Y, New York. Amy Kaiser, conductor.
1984-1985
Visiting Lecturer in the Residential Colleges, Yale University
1984-1993
Teaches at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, drama division; instructor in foreign accents and dialects for actors.
1989
Commission and world premiere of Sharehi (Dancing Stories), a dance-theater chamber music piece inspired by Native American tales, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and tour of Southwest.
1992
Joins the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center where he currently serves as Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts
1994
Metropolitan Opera Guild commissions and premieres one-act comic opera for family audiences, The Amazing Adventure of Alvin Allegretto, libretto by Sara Schlessinger, at John Jay Theater, New York.
Bruce initiates MEET THE MUSIC! Family concerts at Alice Tully Hall, becomes director of family concerts for Chamber Music Society.
1995
Itzhak Perlman plays world premiere and recital tour of Bitter, Sour, Salt Suite for solo violin at Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall.
1996
Beaux Arts Trio performs world premiere of Piano Trio No.2 at Metropolitan Museum of Art and on European tour.
What to Listen for in the World, book of poems about music published by Limelight Editions, New York. Art by Vijay Kumar.
1999
Of Mozart, Parrots, and Cherry Blossoms in the Wind: A Composer Explores Mysteries of the Musical Mind published by Limelight Editions, New York.
2000
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra commissions work for family audiences, The Purple Palace, text by Louise Gikow.
Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto commissioned and premiered by Chicago Chamber Musicians for the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History “reveal” of the bones of the giant T.rex
Bruce establishes education company The Learning Maestros with Julian Fifer. The Learning Maestros provides tools to inspire students, teachers, families, and learners of all ages to explore connections among the arts, sciences, the environment, social conscience, and diverse cultures.
2001
Soprano Sylvia McNair and Bruce Adolphe at piano give world premiere in Tully Hall of Adolphe’s A Thousand Years of Love, commissioned by Millennium Consortium/Music Accord, presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
2002
Lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York/Notes and Bolts: How Music Gets Written
Piano Puzzlers introduced at Performance Today
2003
Oceanophony performed at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, commissioned in celebration of their 100th Anniversary, and performed at American Museum of Natural History.
2004-2005
Brentano Quartet tour playing Bruce's music throughout the United States and Europe, including Concertgebow, Library of Congress
2005
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays The Purple Palace in Berlin and Tokyo.
2009
Of Mind, Medicine and Music presentation by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio and Bruce Adolphe at the University of Southern California.
World premiere and tour of Let Freedom Sing, opera in one act about the life of Marian Anderson, libretto by Carolivia Herron -- commissioned and performed by The Washington National Opera & Washington Performing Arts Society, Atlas Theater, Washington, D.C.
Kennedy Center presents an evening of chamber music by Bruce Adolphe
Yo-Yo Ma plays world premiere of Self Comes to Mind at American Museum of Natural History, New York
2010
World premiere of Dell’arte e delle cipolle: Omaggio al Bronzino (Of Art and Onions: Homage to Bronzino). For five-part chorus (SSATB), harpsichord, vibraphone, viola da gamba; Commissioned by Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy; Premiered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC by the Antioch Chamber Ensemble. European Premiere at Teatro Goldoni, Florence, produced by Maggio Musicale and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Italy, by Currende Ensemble, directed by Erik van Nevel.
2012
Bruce co-founds Off the Hook Arts Festival with Jephta Bernstein in Fort Collins, Colorado and serves as Artistic Director.
2013
Oxford University Press publishes second edition of The Mind’s Ear: Exercises for Improving the Musical Imagination
Bruce presents “The Mind’s Ear: Thinking and Dreaming Music” at the International Neuroscience Conference in San Diego, CA, with Antonio Damasio
2014
Human Rights Orchestra, Laurie Rubin, mezzo-soprano soloist, conducted by Alessio Allegrini, perform world premiere of orchestra version of Do You Dream in Color? KKL, Lucerne.
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Laurie Rubin, mezzo-soprano soloist, Jeffrey Kahane, conductor, perform Do You Dream in Color?
The brass section of the Metropolitan Opera commissions and records Santa and Isolde, an 8-minute puzzler/quodlibet of holiday tunes and famous opera arias
2015
Joshua Bell plays world premiere of Einstein’s Light with pianist Marija Stroke at UNESCO, Paris, at the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. Since Einstein was a devoted violinist, composer Bruce Adolphe created a score based on Einstein's deep connection to the music of Mozart and Bach. Grammy Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell performed the world premiere of music from Bruce Adolphe's score for Einstein's Light yesterday at the United Nations/UNESCO International Year of Light Opening Ceremony in Paris.
Joshua Bell, violinist with Marija Stroke, pianist perform Einstein’s Light at Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies for the Einstein 100th Anniversary of General Relativity Celebration.
World premiere of I Will Not Remain Silent with IRIS Orchestra, Germantown, Tennessee, Sharon Roffman, violin soloist; Michael Stern, conductor.
Ilya Gringolts, violin soloist, Human Rights Orchestra, Alessio Allegrini, conductor, I Will Not Remain Silent, at KKL, Lucerne, Switzerland.
2016
World premiere of Piano Concerto conducted by Fabio Luisi with piano soloist Carlo Grante and the Zürich Philharmonia, Zürich Opera House.
2017
Daniel Hope plays I Will Not Remain Silent with LA Chamber Orchestra conducted by Jeffrey Kahane
World premiere of Emma and the Blue Baku, one-act opera for children, libretto by James Bradburne, December 17, 2017, at the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense, Milan. Performed by Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, conducted by Marcello Parolini, directed by Kuniaki Ida, designs by Angelo Lodi.
2018
New York premiere of Thuenpa Puen Zhi (Four Harmonious Friends), Bruce Adolphe with members of Silk Road Ensemble and Steve Wilson, at Princeton University and in Alice Tully Hall for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Daniel Hope plays I Will Not Remain Silent with Essen Philharmonie, Jaime Martin, conductor.
2019
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center premieres "Are there not a thousand forms of sorrow" for string quartet to mark their 50th anniversary.
The River Oaks Chamber Orchestra premieres "I too Bleed and Hope for Beauty.”
2020
The Brentano String Quartet premieres Coiled, inspired by Beethoven's Quartet in F minor, Op. 95.
Daniel Hope premieres The Nightingale on his pandemic concert series Hope@Home in Berlin, as both violinist and narrator.
Bruce Adolphe and his daughter, Katja Stroke-Adolphe, create 30 15-minute educational videos for young listeners (during the pandemic) for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
2021
Soprano Angel Blue and pianist Bryan Wagorn perform the world premiere of Water Songs at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in the first post-pandemic concert on the Lincoln Center campus.
Oxford University Press publishes the third edition of The Mind’s Ear: Exercises for Improving the Musical Imagination for Composers, Performers, and Listeners.
2022
Fabio Luisi conducts the world premiere of Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt (This Kiss to the Whole World) with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
The Routledge Companion to Music and Human Rights with a chapter by Bruce Adolphe called The Sound of Human Rights: Wordless Music that Speaks for Humanity is published.
Da Capo Chamber Players premieres Portraits.
Daniel Hope and the Zürich Chamber Orchestra play the world premiere of The King, the Cat, and the Fiddle at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and later perform the work in Zürich.
Kristin Lee gives the US premiere of The Nightingale at the Off the Hook Arts Festival, Colorado.
Kelly Hall-Tompkins gives the New York premiere of The Nightingale in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center.
2023
Cambridge University Press publishes Visions and Decisions: Imagination and Technique in Music Composition, part of the Elements/Creativity and Imagination series.
Violist Misha Amory and Bruce Adolphe play the world premiere of Elegy for Roger, composed in memory of Roger Tapping, as part of the Music for Food series in New York.
Kelly Hall-Tompkins is violin soloist in the US premiere of The King, the Cat, and the Fiddle at the Off the Hook Arts Festival, Colorado.
Memory Believes (a requiem) to be premiered by the Brentano String Quartet and the Antioch Chamber Chorus, Parlance Chamber Concerts, New Jersey.