Article

Tim Brady

Published Online June 10, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Timothy Wesley John Brady, "Tim," composer, guitarist (b at Montréal 11 Jul 1956). He studied guitar and composition at the New England Conservatory in Boston and began his career in Toronto in 1980 before returning to Montréal in 1987.

Timothy Wesley John Brady

His early activities in both jazz and New Music gave way in the 1990s to a variety of explorations in the latter field alone. Conversant in styles ranging from serialism to minimalism, he has garnered a high profile for his diligence and initiative as a composer, and for his imagination as a guitarist in electroacoustic settings. His best-known compositions include the orchestral pieces Variants (1982) and Visions (1982), a Chamber Concerto (1985), the trio ...in the Wake... (1985, 1988) and the song cycle Revolutionary Songs (1994).

Brady has toured Canada and appeared in the US as a solo performer and with his chamber ensemble Bradyworks. His CDs (all for Justin Time) include a performance of Visions with Kenny Wheeler (1985-87), the Bradyworks discs Inventions (1988-91) and Revolutionary Songs (1995-96), and the solo Imaginary Guitars (1992), Scenarios (1993-94), Strange Attractors (1994-6) and The Multifarious 10 Collaborations (1997-2000). In 1997 Brady organized a multi-city festival, The Body Electric, devoted to the future of the electric guitar.