Brandon Keith Brown, guest conductor
Young American conductor Brandon Keith Brown is quickly garnering international attention. As the 3rd Prize Winner of the 2012 Sir Georg Solti Competition for Conductors, his final performance found him “…the stand-out audience favorite…”(Norman Lebrecht) leading the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in a performance characterized in klassik.com as an “… exciting affair.” Selected by the Vienna Philharmonic as winner of 2011 Ansbacher Fellowship, he was in residence at The Salzburg Festival, and conducted Vienna Philharmonic members in the opera camps for youth. In February, he made his New York debut with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra.
Orchestras conducted in concert include the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Yakima Chamber Orchestra, the Macon Sinfonia, the Astoria Symphony and the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia. Other conducted orchestras include the Tonhalle-Orchestra Zurich, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Croatian Radio and Television Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Baltimore Symphony, and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra.
Brown conducted at The 2010 Castleton Festival in Virginia USA under the direction of Lorin Maazel and at the 2009 American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, with David Zinman. Solely representing the United States, he competed in Zagreb Croatia at the 2011 Matacic International Competition for Young Conductors and second round of the 2012 Malko International Conducting Competition in Copenhagen.
Versatile in opera, Brown has been music director for Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, Suor Angelica, assistant for Britten’s Albert Herring and studied Puccini’s Il Trittico with Lorin Maazel. Previously, he served as cover conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, Assistant Conductor at the Peabody Institute, and assistant conductor/fellow of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra.
Winner of the Peabody Career Grant, Mr. Brown holds a Master’s of Music in Orchestral Conducting from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. Initially trained as a violinist, he is a pupil of Roland and Almita Vamos. Primary conducting mentors and teachers include David Zinman, Lorin Maazel and Gustav Meier.
