"Bruce Adolphe reveals a deep sense of humanity and spirit in his extraordinary music ." Stereophile, 1998
Whether it's about a fugitive turkey, a mysterious message from the moon, a Sarcastic Fringehead Fish, or a teenage T. rex, Bruce Adolphe's music written especially for families and schools captures the hearts and minds of audiences of all ages. As the New York Times put it: "Mr. Adolphe’s music, as agile and colorful as the creatures it describes, is highly sophisticated."
This is fun, inspiring music written with the point of view that kids are great listeners, and that music for smart young people should connect to the world around them. That's why Bruce Adolphe's pieces are about everything from dinosaurs, ocean creatures, city life and democracy to the diaries of Paul Gauguin and Shakespeare's magical characters.
For information on obtaining the following performance materials, please contact PollyRhythm Productions.
Red Dogs and Pink Skies: A Musical Celebration of Paul Gauguin
Oceanophony
Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto
Tough Turkey in the Big City:
A Feathered Tale
Bruce Adolphe's Piano Puzzlers
Witches, Wizards, Spells, and Elves: The Magic of Shakespeare
The Purple Palace
Time Flies
Into a Cloud
For information on obtaining the following performance materials, please contact MMB Music .
Urban Scenes for String Quartet and Kids!
Little Red Riding Hood
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Three Pices for Kids and Orchestra
The Amazing Adventure of Alvin Allegretto
- Red Dogs and Pink Skies: A Musical Celebration
of Paul Gauguin (26 minutes)
A lush, colorful journey through French painter Paul Gauguin's life and times in music, image and text. Performance materials include music, script and A dazzling, full-color workbook leads children and their parents through the painter's life and work. Bruce Adolphe's ravishing musical recording provides the counterpart for learning about art through music, and vice versa. top
- Oceanophony (40 minutes)
Plunge into an ocean of music and poetry to meet Sarcastic Fringehead fish, Puffer fish, Stoplight Parrotfish, a love-struck seahorse, an octopus, a Cleaning fish, and more! Swim through marine snow and discover the mysterious world of coral music! Eight enlightening poems by award-winning poet Kate Light illuminate the depths! top
- Tyrannosaurus Sue: A Cretaceous Concerto (25
minutes)
A cretaceous coming of age story! Follow Sue, the world-famous T-rex, on her journey from birth to old age. Ravaging for food, chasing a parasaurolophus, battling a triceratos - it's an action-packed learning adventure. top
- Tough Turkey in the Big City: A Feathered
Tale (30 minutes)
An upbeat, brassy, Thanksgiving odyssey! Tom, a turkey from the sticks, tours New York, stumbles onto the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and falls for a Park Avenue Pigeon. Ideal for Thanksgiving, this feathered tale entertains year-round. top
- Bruce Adolphe's Piano Puzzlers
On public radio stations throughout the country, Bruce Adolphe plays popular melodies disguised as pieces by great Classical composers - and contestants call in to guess the tune and the composer whose style Bruce is imitating. For the first time, 30 of Bruce's Piano Puzzlers are available as sheet music. If you play the piano, teach music, or are a classical music lover, this book of tunes is for you. Now you can play them at parties, in the classroom, as encores, or just to drive your neighbors crazy! top
- Witches, Wizards, Spells, and Elves: The
Magic of Shakespeare (40 minutes)
For stories of witches, wizards, spells and elves, magic, mayhem, charms, and fairies, no writer can compare with William Shakespeare. Highlights from magical moments in Shakespeare's plays are allowed by short concertos inspired by those texts. top
- The Purple Palace (25 minutes)
The Purple Palace tells the story of the land of Chromatica, where everything is light and color. Queen Red and King Blue have a child, Princess Purple. When she becomes Queen of Chromatica, she banishes all colors but purple. This leads to nothing but trouble for her, and, after a series of calamities, she comes to understand her mistake. With the help of a bee from another kingdom, Purple invites all the banished colors to return, and Chromatica is once again vibrant with color. Beyond its’s affirmative social message for children about diversity and democracy, the story is rich in visual images that are clearly portrayed in the music. Each color has a theme, and as the plot unfolds, orchestral colors are varied and mixed just as an artist would use colors to illustrate the story in a book. top
- Urban Scenes for String Quartet and Kids!
(time varies because of audience participation; approx. 20 minutes)
When is it appropriate to snore in a concert hall? During Urban Scenes, when the great snoring solo is performed by a kid from the audience. Kids also come up on stage and play car horns, sirens, birdcalls, and slide whistles -- and they even speak lines as actors. All this is coordinated with the string quartet. top
- Little Red Riding Hood (16
minutes)
A fun and surprising version of the story for narrator, violin, viola, oboe, and piano. Even wolf fans like this one! top
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
(15 minutes)
Papa Bear is the cello, Mama Bear is the viola, and Baby Bear is the violin. Goldilocks is the oboe, and the piano ties it all together in this jazzy, funny version. With narrator. top
- Three Pieces for Kids and Orchestra
(15 minutes; time varies because of audience participation)
Kids perform along with the orchestra in this highly interactive exploration of orchestral music-making. top
- The Amazing Adventure of Alvin Allegretto
(50 minutes)
A one-act comic opera about a kid who won't sing, no matter what! Composed for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. top
- Time Flies (20 minutes)
For chamber orchestra; based on the wordless picture book by Eric Rohmann. Commissioned by The Chicago Humanities Festival, 2004. Premiered by Fulcrum Point new music ensemble at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 2004. Performance scheduled for April, 2006, at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. top
- Into a Cloud (5 minutes)
For oboe and piano based on the Chinese legend of Lan Tsai Ho. Premiered at SummerFest La Jolla, 2005, with oboist Zheng Huang and pianist Marija Stroke. top
“Adolphe’s music is wonderfully evocative. It excites the ear and the mind.”
-Chicago Sun Times, 1990
“One of our favorite composers...”
-New York Magazine, 2003
Bruce Adolphe has been commissioned to compose music for great artists and organizations, including Itzhak Perlman, Sylvia McNair, Ida Kavafian, Eugene Drucker, David Finckel, the Brentano String Quartet, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Beaux Arts Trio, the National Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Lukes, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Imani Winds, the Apollo Trio, and many others. Adolphe is the only composer to have received five commissions from The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where nine of his works received world premieres. In recent seasons, Adolphe's music has been performed by orchestras and ensembles in Italy, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Japan in addition to frequent concerts throughout the United States. His catalogue includes a wide variety of chamber works, operas, symphonic pieces, concerti, and songs.
For a more complete list and information regarding performance materials LINK TO MMB or Contact the composer by e-mail.
top
Chamber Music (non-vocal) up to 8 instruments
String Quartet No. 1 (“By
a grace of sense surrounded”)
“Turning, Returning” (String Quartet
No. 2)
String Quartet No. 4 (“Whispers of Mortality”)
“And All is Always Now”
“In Memories Of”
“The Bitter, Sour, Salt Suite”
“Couple”
“Memories of a Possible Future”
“ContraDiction”
“Three Secret Stories”
"Oh Gesualdo, Divine Tormentor"
“Night Journey”
“Triskelion”
Piano Trio No. 2
The Tiger's Ear: Listening to Abstract Expressionist
Paintings
Orchestral Compositions/Concerti
"What Dreams May Come?"
“After the End”
“Songs of Radical Innocence”
“Body Loops”
Violin Concerto
Ensembles with Singer(s)/Song Cycles/Songs
“A Thousand Years of Love”
“Songs of Life and Love”
Ladino Songs of Love and Suffering
“Out of the Whirlwind”
“Wind Across the Sky”
Opera
Mikhoels the Wise
The False Messiah – The Story of Shabtai Zvi
- String Quartet No. 1 (“By a grace
of sense surrounded”) (15 minutes) Commissioned by Chamber
Music America for the Mendelssohn String Quartet, 1984. Premiered by MSQ,
Merkin Concert Hall, 1984. Recorded on CRI, Brentano String Quartet.
top / compositions
- “Turning, Returning” (String
Quartet No. 2) (15 minutes)
Commissioned by Peter and Wendela Moes for the Brentano String Quartet. Premiered by BSQ, and recorded on CRI.
top / compositions
- String Quartet No. 4 (“Whispers
of Mortality”) (20 minutes)
Commissioned by Concert Artists Guild for the Miami String Quartet. MMB. Performances by MSQ in Weill Recital Hall, SummerFest La Jolla, and concert series across the U.S.
top / compositions
- “And All is Always Now”(13
minutes)
for violin and piano. Written for Mark Steinberg and Marija Stroke; recorded by them on CRI.
top / compositions
- “In Memories Of”(15
minutes)
for piano and string quartet. Commissioned by Peter and Wendela Moes for the Brentano String Quartet and Marija Stroke. Premiered at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, 1992. Recorded on CRI.
top / compositions
- “The Bitter, Sour, Salt Suite”(time
varies as the 8 movements may be performed separately)
for narrator and solo violin (could be same person.) Poems about food by Louise Gikow are illustrated by solo violin movements, including Chocolate Cake, Mixed Nuts, Meringue, Beef Stew, Butter, Tomatoes, Champagne, Chili Pepper. Commissioned by Itzhak Perlman. Recorded by Perlman on Telarc, not yet released. MMB. Performed by Perlman at Kennedy Center, Avery Fisher Hall for Great Performances of Lincoln Center, and on tours of Europe and U.S.
top / compositions
- “Couple”(16 minutes)
for cello and piano. Commissioned by James and Lois Lasry for La Jolla SummerFest 1999. Dedicated to David Finckel and Wu Han. Premiered by Finckel and Wu Han, summer of 1999 in La Jolla. Played by them throughout the US every season since premiere. Featured on Performance Today for Valentine’s Day, 2003.
top / compositions
- “Memories of a Possible
Future”(16 minutes)
for piano and string quartet. Commissioned by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Virginia International Arts Festival. Premiered by Andre Michel Schub and the Miami String Quartet in 2001 at the Virginia International Arts Festival. West Coast premiere, Chamber Music Northwest 2002. New York premiere at Lincoln Center, April, 2003.
top / compositions
- “ContraDiction”(5
minutes)
a reaction to Bach’s Art of the Fugue, Contrapunctus No. 2
Commissioned by the Brentano String Quartet as part of a project with 10 composers. Premieres and performances in 2002-03 at Dartmouth, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, Boston Celebrity Series, Houston Da Camera, etc.
top / compositions
- “Three Secret Stories”(15
minutes)
for violin and piano. Commissioned by Ida Kavafian. Premiered in 2004 at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, with Anne-Marie McDermott, pianist.
top / compositions
- "Oh Gesualdo, Divine Tormentor"
(2004) (25 minutes)
settings of five madrigals by Don Carlo Gesualdo for string quartet plus an original work reacting to Gesualdo's Moro lasso called More or Less. Commissioned by the Brentano String Quartet; performed Zankell Hall at Carnegie, Da Camera in Houston, and on tour throughout United States and Europe.
top / compositions
- “Night Journey”(12
minutes)
for woodwind quintet. Commissioned by the Dorian Wind Quintet for their 25th anniversary. Recorded by Dorian Wind Quintet on Summit.
top / compositions
- “Triskelion”(20
minutes)
for brass quintet. Commissioned by the American Music Library Association for their 60th anniversary. Premiered by the American Brass Quintet. Recorded on Summit.
top / compositions
- Piano Trio No. 2 (15 minutes)
for violin, cello, and piano. Commissioned by Wendela and Peter Moes for the Beaux Arts Trio. Premiered by the Beaux Arts Trio at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994.
top / compositions
- The Tiger's Ear: Listening to Abstract
Expressionist Paintings (30 minutes)
for flute, oboe, violin, viola, cello, piano. Commissione by Armstrong Chamber Concerts. Each movement reacts to the energy, color, texture, and form of an abstract painting. The six movements are based on the following six painters: Jackson Pollack; Barnett Newman; Clyfford Still; Mark Rothko; Philip Guston; Willem de Kooning. (Contact PollyRhythm, above.) Performed June 5, 2006 by Chicago Chamber Musicians. Scheduled as special event at The Light In Winter Festival, January 28, 2007, at Cornell University, with guest speaker Christopher Rothko.
- “A Thousand Years of Love”(20
minutes)
song cycle of love poems from around the world spanning 1000 of history. Commissioned by Millennium Consortium, Music Accord, for soprano Sylvia McNair. Premiered at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, October 2001, with Sylvia McNair, soprano, and Bruce Adolphe, piano. Performed by them around the US. Touring in 2003 with soprano Lauren Skuce and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
top / compositions
- “Songs of Life and Love"
(20 minutes)
Settings of Poems by Women from Iran, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and the United States (2005) -- premiered at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, April 7, 2005, by mezzo-soprano Mary Nessinger and pianist Marija Stroke. MMB forthcoming. Contact composer for more information.
top / compositions
- Ladino Songs of Love and Suffering
(25 minutes)
for soprano, French horn, guitar. Commissioned by David Jolley and Lucy Shelton. Premiered Alice Tully Hall, 1984, by David Jolley, Lucy Shelton, and David Starobin. Subsequent performances with guitarist Eliot Fisk include The Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.. Recorded for Milken Archive American Masters series, Naxos. 2004 Grammy, best producer.
top / compositions
- “Out of the Whirlwind”(30
minutes)
for mezzo-soprano, tenor and large wind ensemble (including piano, harp, percussion, and bass). Commissioned by Kingsborough Community College in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps of WW II. Texts and melodies by survivors and victims of the Holocaust. Recorded by John Aler, Phyllis Pancella, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony, Rodney Winther, conductor, for Milken Archive American Masters series, Naxos. 2004 Grammy, best producer.
top / compositions
- “Wind Across the Sky”(20
minutes)
for soprano and piano trio. Traditional poems by Iroquois and other Native Americans. Composed for Lauren Skuce and the Apollo Trio. Premiere in 2006.
top / compositions
- "What Dreams May Come?" (10
minutes)
for chamber orchestra; commissioned by the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, conductor. Scheduled for premiere December, 2005.
top / compositions
- “After the End”(20
minutes)
for piano and orchestra. Commissioned by David Golub. Premiered by Golub and the Jacksonville Symphony, Roger Nierenburg, conductor.
top / compositions
- “Songs of Radical Innocence”(15
minutes)
for clarinet and orchestra. Commissioned by the Wichita Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony, and the Akron Symphony. Premiered by David Shifrin and the Wichita Symphony, Zhuohuang Chen, conductor. Featured on Performance Today, NPR.
top / compositions
- “Body Loops”(17
minutes)
for piano and orchestra. Premiered by Boriskin and the Pro Arte Orchestra of Boston, Gisele Ben Dor, conducting. Performed by Marija Stroke and I Solisti at OK Mozart Festival, Ransom Wilson, conducting.
top / compositions
- Violin Concerto for Eugene Drucker
(2005) not yet premiered.
top / compositions
- Mikhoels the Wise – The Story
of Solomon Mikhoels, a Yiddish Actor in Stalin’s Soviet Union
(2 Acts, full evening) 1982.
Libretto by Mel Gordon. Commissioned by Jewish Opera at the 92nd Street Y, New York. Premiered there, 1982. Amy Kaiser, conductor.
top / compositions
- The False Messiah – The Story
of Shabtai Zvi (2 Acts, full evening), 1983.
Commissioned by Jewish Opera at the 92nd Street, New York. Premiered there, 1983. Amy Kaiser, conductor.
top / compositions