Silent horseman
Like Ballet Arizona artistic director Ib Andersen, the conductor has elevated a respectable regional company into one with international stature. Since taking over the chorus (then called the Phoenix Bach Choir) in 1999, Bruffy has expanded its repertoire to include contemporary compositions, including several world premieres by Ola Gjeilo. Recordings for the respected Chandos label have received critical acclaim and won two Grammys — one of which it shares with sister company the Kansas City (Mo.) Chorale, which Bruffy has led since 1988.
“Charles really is a magician,” says Rinsema, who has headed up the business office since 1998 and serves as assistant conductor.
“He will see something new in the music and be able to convey it with the twitch of a finger. It is truly the pursuit of perfection. …
“He calls it ‘picking fly sh-t out of pepper.’ ”
That phrase is a typical Bruffyism and another reason an open rehearsal is a show in and of itself.
With a shock of curly hair reminiscent of Gene Wilder, the maestro exudes both an ethereal innocence and an impish charm. And to watch him rehearse the choir isn’t just entertaining, it is enlightening. He communicates the nuances he’s looking for through poetical descriptions but also with body language, puffing up, curling over into a physical metaphor for the sound he wants to hear.
The “Amazing Grace” concert, which will feature two distinct arrangements of that hymn as well as a guest appearance by Arizona bluegrass band Run Boy Run, Arizona bluegrass band Run Boy Run will be part of the “Amazing Grace” performance. AMY MARTELL is a reprise performance and a bit on the populist side for the Phoenix Chorale. But Bruffy takes it every bit as seriously as a world-premiere composition.
“It really is a blast to get to use the quality of the singing of the Phoenix Chorale in an offbeat way,” he says.
“It has kind of turned my listening a little upside down, in that we want it to be very rehearsed and of the level that our audiences expect, but we don’t want it to sound so polished that it loses authenticity and freshness. Like, some classical singers try and make those crossover albums, and so it’s an opera singer singing ‘My Funny Valentine,’ which sounds funny indeed.
“None of us grew up in Appalachia or the South. So now to become one with other cultures, of the people that would have sung this music, the old Shakers and Quakers with the shape-note hymns that we’re singing, we need to sing like we’ve never had a voice lesson, because that would be the people singing this song.”
In addition to his more-than-full-time music career — since 2008, he also has directed the Kansas City Symphony Chorus — Bruffy has recently rediscovered a passion for horses. He owns 10 of them, including two show horses in Scottsdale that compete in the “country English pleasure” class.
“Basically what it means is they trot high but have good manners,” he explains.
“It’s become a very big part of my world. I’m in rehearsal six nights a week, and that means that I’m either doing it or I’m thinking about doing it all of the time. So with the horses, it just gives my brain a little distraction, and the physical exertion certainly doesn’t hurt.
“I just love being around the poetry of the animal. It’s maybe an interesting choice for me that my world revolves around sound and communicating through sound, and with the horses, all of the communicating is non-verbal and silent.”