Music: Paul Pulford

Paul maintains a busy schedule as a conductor, chamber musician and soloist. As resident conductor and soloist for the NUMUS Ensemble, he recently performed John Taverner’s Svyati for Cello and Choir and conducted the Canadian premier of the chamber orchestra version of Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra and the Schoenberg arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler. This past season he also performed the Oskar Morawetz Cello Concerto, In Memoriam, Martin Luther King. As a conductor, Pulford has worked with Symphony New Brunswick and the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra and has appeared as a guest with the KW Symphony, Canadian Chamber Ensemble, Mississauga Symphony, the Stratford Symphony Orchestra, and the Georgian Symphony. In 2005 he conducted the premier performances of Tim Brady’s opera The Salome Dancer, and will conduct the first workshop performances of Tim’s new opera, The Record Player this fall. Pulford has been the Principal Conductor of the Wilfrid Laurier Symphony since 1989 and during his tenure the orchestra has developed into a mature ensemble, regularly performing the major works by Brahms, Mahler, Stravinsky, Strauss, Hindemith, etc. The Laurier Chamber Orchestra, which he founded in 1994, has recorded for the Eclectra Label with soloists Darren Lowe and Suzanne Beaubien. Pulford maintains a passionate commitment to New Music through his involvement with Blue Rider Ensemble (he was a founding member in 1989) and the NUMUS New Music Ensemble in Waterloo. Blue Rider specializes in 20th and 21st century works for Instrumental Theatre and has recorded a highly acclaimed CD of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire. The BRE is currently involved in a four-year project to create a new work based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is funded by a major SSHRC grant. He has been a member of the Penderecki String Quartet, the Orford String Quartet and the Galliard Ensemble. Pulford has recorded over 30 CDs, including the complete works for Cello and Fortepiano by Beethoven (ebs label) and Brahms (DoReMi label) with fortepianist Boyd McDonald.

See a video of Paul’s performance at Fluxible 2013