Bruce, (Frank) Neely
- Keith Moore
Extract
(b Memphis, Jan 21, 1944). American composer, pianist, conductor and musicologist. He studied the piano with Roy McAllister at the University of Alabama (BM 1965), with Sophia Rosoff, and with Soulima Stravinsky at the University of Illinois (MM 1966), where he also studied composition with Ben Johnson (DMA, 1971) and had contact with Hamm, Hiller, Kessler and Brün. He served on the music faculty at Illinois (1968–74) before joining the staff at Wesleyan University. He was a member of the editorial committee of New World Records (1974–8), founding chairman of New England Sacred Harp Singing (1976) and has held visiting professorships at Middlebury College, Bucknell University and the University of Michigan. In 1980 he was Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College.
In 1968 Bruce founded the American Music Group (AMG), an ensemble innovative in its dedication to American music of all eras. AMG recorded the music of Anthony Philip Heinrich for Vanguard, toured widely in the United States and, under Bruce’s direction, gave the 20th-century première of Bristow’s ...
