Bramwell Tovey, 'beloved maestro' of Winnipeg, Vancouver orchestras, dead at 69

Bramwell Tovey, a longtime music director with both theWinnipeg Symphony Orchestra where he foundedthe Winnipeg New Music festival and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra died Tuesday at his home in Barrington, Rhode Island.

The Sarasota Orchestra in Florida, where the 69-year-old had been music director since 2021, announced the news of his death.

In its statement, the Sarasota Orchestra said Tovey was diagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma in 2019, and after surgical intervention was cancer-free.

In January, the cancer returned and he was unable to recover, the statement says.

Tovey served as the music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2001.

A statement released Wednesday by currentWSOmusic director Daniel Raiskindescribed Tovey as "a much beloved maestro who made an indelible impact on the symphonic community in Canada."

Richard Turner, principal harpist at the WSO for over 40 years, remembers Tovey as a larger-than-life figure; someone as dedicated as he was talented.

During his first meeting with the Winnipeg orchestra, Tovey set the tone for what would be a 12-year tenure.

"He said that he expected all of us, the musicians and everybody associated, to work as hard as he was prepared to work. And over those years, that certainly was what translated," Turner recalls.

In 1992, Tovey co-founded the now internationally renowned Winnipeg New Music Festival with Glenn Buhr, the orchestra's first composer-in-residence and his successor, Randolph Peters.

It was an ambitious goal that Turner says few people believed would work.

"Contemporary music is not an easy sell, and particularly contemporary symphonic music. So [to have] symphonic classical contemporary music with a living composer in residence was just very radical [and] unheard of," Turner says.

The festival marked its 30th year in 2021.

Following Winnipeg, Tovey took his talents to orchestras aroundNorth America,including an 18-year tenure as music director with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, from 2000 until 2018. The VSO later named him itsmusic director emeritus.

He becameartistic director of Calgary Opera in 2019, before taking on his role with the Sarasota Orchestra.

He also made guest appearances as a conductor with orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the symphony ochestras in Boston, Chicago, Melbourne and Sydney.

In 2018, the London-born composer returnedhome, leading the BBC Concert Orchestra as its principal conductor.

The WSO's Turner spoke to Tovey on the phone just six weeks ago.

The two reminisced like old friends about the years they worked together, he said.The maestro was interested in what was happening in Winnipeg, and with the orchestra.

"I think that was the most touching to me. You know, a lot of people, they come and go and that's how it is. But that wasn't the casehe still felt a real connection here. He cared deeply."