Since 1989 Bramwell was resident in North America, initially as Artistic Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra where he founded the WSO's annual New Music Festival in 1992 and since 2000, as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In the 2004/05 season his guest engagements included the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Canada's National Arts Centre orchestras.
As a composer Bramwell Tovey won the 2003 Juno Award, Best Canadian Classical Composition for Requiem for a Charred Skull for chorus and brass band. He has written concertos for cello, viola, and brass quintet and orchestra. He wrote the orchestral score and performed as solo pianist for the feature film eighteen, starring Ian McKellen and Alan Cumming, released in 2005.
He was a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and in 2006 became Artistic Director of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. He regularly conducted some of the world's best brass bands. The Night To Sing was commissioned by the British Open Brass Band Championship for the contest of September 2005.