MEET
Bruce Engel

BAFFA's Orchestra Director

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Bruce Engel is well-known in the New York music community 

for his involvement that spans over forty years. Most would recognize him as the conductor of the Brooklyn Brass, the New York Herald Trumpets, the Stony Brook University Wind Ensemble, and the St. Anthony’s High School Orchestra and Symphonic Band where he was appointed Director of Music in1998 and was just awarded Music Director Emeritus upon his retirement.  Bruce has also directed the Jazz Band and Concert Band at Wagner College, taught at Princeton University, and was the Music Director of the Staten Island Musician's Society, as well as guest conducted for the New Jersey Pops and the Goldman Band, both of which he was also principal trumpet for many years. Internationally, Bruce has conducted orchestra concerts throughout Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, and China.

 

As a professional trumpeter, Bruce performed for fourteen years with the Metropolitan Opera, and as a free-lance musician, performed under some of the world’s greatest conductors, such as Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Schippers, Pierre Boulez, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leon Barzin, and James Levine, with such distinguished ensembles as the American Symphony, the New York Pops, the Stuttgart and Winnipeg Ballets, the Bolshoi Opera, and the New York Philharmonic. As a soloist, Bruce has performed at Lincoln Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trinity Church, the Cathedral, the Stamford and Queen's Symphony, as well as a soloist and cast member of the original Broadway production of "Rags".

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BAFFA is beyond excited to now have Bruce as their Orchestra Director and was able to interview him and ask him some questions about his experience as a music director and musician.

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What made you want to join BAFFA as their newest Orchestra Director?

"It is said that timing plays an important role, sometimes the overwhelming role, in one's life, both personally and professionally.

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After thirty-two years as Director of Music at St. Anthony's High School, conducting both the Orchestra and Symphonic Band, and as the Music Director of the Stony Brook Wind Ensemble for thirty years, I had just recently decided to retire. As I started reveling in the concept of total freedom, after a week or so I realized that I may miss such an important and integral part of my life. I believe it was that same day when I saw Donna Smosky's [BAFFA president] advertisement concerning the available Music Director position at BAFFA. Had this been a few weeks earlier, I probably would have just passed on this advertisement to one of my colleagues.

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After a bit of research and upon discovering this entire arts organization grew from the Price family not having a functioning piano for their daughter's piano recital, I knew this must be an incredible community; enterprising, charitable, and arts-minded. 

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The timing seemed like destiny calling. On a personal note, while a middle school student, I first saw my wife (future wife at the time) on a bus ride in Philadelphia, where as soon as I saw her, I told the astonished passenger sitting next to me "I am going to marry that girl". What if either of us had taken a different bus five minutes earlier or later? Timing, timing, timing."

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Can you describe your favorite experience with conducting musical ensembles?

"My absolute favorite and most joyous experience with conducting ensembles is the process of having a group of fifty to a hundred individuals, all with different musical ideas, performance practices and styles, all with different skill sets (this is the case in fully professional ensembles also), and working together to create a unit of one, while trying to maintain the artistic integrity of each individual. I believe it is not much different in any field of endeavor, sports, business, or any other professional or nonprofessional organization attempting "E PLURIBUS UNUM". Challenging, but what fun!"

 

What was the most challenging piece of music that you have conducted? Where was it and why was it so challenging?

"I do not have an individual piece that comes to mind that 'stands out' as a conducting challenge, as all music score study requires an enormous amount of time and effort. However, probably the most challenging conducting endeavor was my first professional conducting engagement, where I was hired a week before a fifteen week summer concert series to plan, program, and conduct a fully professional ensemble. Every waking (and sometimes every dreaming moment) was spent in preparation. That experience was a challenge."

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What are the feelings you experience when conducting/directing an orchestra concert?

"I attempt to feel and experience that which the music dictates. Sad music = sad feelings, joyous music = joyous feelings, and the entire gambit in between. The goal is to become so familiar and comfortable with the technical aspects of conducting the music, that it is second nature, and the emotional component of the music can flourish, This is a lifelong endeavor."

 

What's the most unexpected thing that's ever happened to you while conducting/directing?

"Two experiences "jump out" at me in this regard.

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I was guest conducting The Goldman Band at the Bronx Botanical Garden where the city had set up a portable stage. To my astonishment, while conducting the finale of "The Sound of Music '', the podium started falling from the stage, where I jumped off of it as it fell off the stage, landed squarely on my feet (I was quite a bit younger then), and it is said that I never missed a beat. I am not sure what the set up crew was drinking that hot day, but whatever it was, it must have been too much. Hopefully, at our opening BAFFA concert this season where we are also performing "The Sound of Music", the finale will not require the same athleticism.

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Another fun moment was when I was touring Italy with the St. Anthony's High School Orchestra and during one of the concerts at a magnificent cathedral (except for their electric panel), the lights went out.

I kept conducting, and somehow the students kept playing, although there was some improvising taking place. Magically, as the music did start to fade, cell phones finally were a welcome addition to the concert experience, I am not sure if it was I or one of the audience members who first used their phone as a light source, but we completed the first half gloriously. The second half, we romantically performed by candlelight.

 

The story where I opened my briefcase directly before a concert, and the scores were not there, as well as

 several stories as a professional trumpeter shall be saved for another time."

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What are you most excited about for the 2024/2025 BAFFA season?

"Every single one of the people I have met connected with BAFFA have been amazing. As excited as I am about conducting the orchestra, I am even more excited about meeting and working with such wonderful people, all with having the success and future of the organization as a priority. I am hopeful that with the assistance and dedication of every individual member, BAFFA will continue to grow, prosper, and with the help of some right timing, become an even more important part of the entire community.

 

It is quite amazing what one broken piano can become."