[1] His principal teachers were Ben Johnston, Hubert Kessler, J. F. Goossen, Lara Hoggard, Charles Hamm, Byrnell Figler, Roy McAllister, Soulima Stravinsky and Sophia Rosoff.
Flora is an opera in two acts and six scenes based on the libretto and surviving tunes of what is thought to be the first piece of musical theater performed in colonial North America.
The historical work premiered in Charleston, South Carolina in 1735, and played again at the newly built Dock Street Theatre in 1736.
The modern score was commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA and premiered by the company on May 29, 2010 to celebrate the reopening of the new Dock Street Theatre.
Writing for the New York Times, James R. Oestreich praised the work and performance, stating: Bruce "did a remarkable job .
by blending a careful fidelity to the original Grimm story with his own manic imagination, [the composer] has created a clever and deeply entertaining new operatic journey into the woods .
[Hansel and Gretel] danced, skipped, roller-skated, high- fived and also sang their way through their troubles with unfailing and non-cloying freshness.
"[9]Americana, or, A New Tale of the Genii, an opera in four acts, is based on a libretto adapted by Tony Connor from an anonymous 18th century source, which recounted the colonies' secession as allegorical parody.
It was premiered in 1985 in a concert version by the American Music/Theatre Group, conducted by James Sinclair, in Hartford and Stamford, Connecticut, and New York City.
Commenting on the premiere at Symphony Space for the New York Times, Will Crutchfield wrote: Bruce's new score "evinced its own quirky appeal .
The piece is odd enough and lively enough to merit a fully professional production.”[10]Bruce's two-hour oratorio Circular 14: The Apotheosis of Aristides, for eight soloists, two choruses and large orchestra, received its first full-scale production in Salt Lake City on January 27, 2018.