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Brian has been Director of Music at the United World College of the Atlantic since 1987, but was also a music teacher there prior to that.
"Teaching for a living means that a great deal of one's time is taken up with other people, but being in charge of the music there has meant that I have been able to conduct orchestras and choirs, organise festivals with professional musicians, and generally create a practical music making atmosphere in the context of a sixth form environment. I have always believed in leading from the front."
The College is an international pre-university college for 16-18 year old students, that is scholarship based, and this means that the students who want to be educated there are motivated, lively people, since the majority of them come from many distant parts of the world. This produces a unique mix of young people which is very special, and which gives a powerful energetic environment in which to produce music. It also means that Western music is not the only 'lingua franca' which holds sway there, and the teaching and production of non-Western music at the College has provided valuable experience for him. "Playing and performing Javanese Gamelan for instance, with other musicians, dancers and singers has been something that I have valued. I have learned a lot in this job"
Most of the time he has been involved with the regular weekly concerts; the European tours of the 40-strong Tour Choir; creating music festivals; educational outreach programmes; conducting operas etc etc... which is perhaps the normal fare for this sort of post.
"It is a busy life and a rewarding one, chief of which has been seeing young musicians grow into professionals, be they cellists, guitarists, singers or whatever, or even composers. Enabling young people to develop their potential, find themselves, is, and has been, well worth all the hard work."
Tour Choir in Graz, Austria 2007
Gamelan performance by AC students
Tout Choir recording broadcast for Polish radio 2008