Maestro Brian Garman is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Berkshire Opera Festival, where he is responsible for all musical and artistic facets of the company.  After over a year spent auditioning and establishing the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra and Chorus, he conducted the Festival’s inaugural production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly in summer 2016, subsequent productions of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, Verdi’s Rigoletto, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, Verdi’s Falstaff, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and returned to the podium for last summer’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème.  He also joined the Crested Butte Music Festival in summer 2018 as the new Music Director of Opera, leading Verdi’s Falstaff.  Previously, he opened Seattle Opera’s season conducting Verdi’s La Traviata, and earlier was named the inaugural Music Director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, a position established for him that he held for five years.  His skills as an orchestra builder assisted him in creating the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program Orchestra – a process that resulted in giving Seattle Opera the only full-season training program in the country with its own permanent orchestra.  He led the members of that program in a Verdi bicentennial concert and several fully-staged productions.  One season prior to his appointment in Seattle, he was seen with the Palm Springs Opera Guild leading a gala parks concert.  He was previously on the conducting roster at New York City Opera, and made his debut with that company at the VOX Showcase in May 2006, the first of two such showcases he conducted.  He returned to the podium for City Opera’s production of Bizet’s Carmen in October and November of the following year.  In the summer of 2008, he led a highly-successful run of Verdi’s Un Giorno di Regno at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, prompting The Wall Street Journal critic Greg Sandow to write that Maestro Garman was “one of the best bel canto conductors I’ve ever heard.”  His acclaimed debut at Wolf Trap occurred the preceding summer leading Chabrier's L’Étoile.

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Maestro Garman was previously the Resident Conductor and Chorus Master at Pittsburgh Opera for ten years.  While so engaged, he led Pittsburgh’s productions of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Verdi’s Rigoletto, Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte, and Massenet’s Werther, among others, to unanimous praise.  Additionally, as Music Director of the Pittsburgh Opera Center, he was at the helm for several productions with that company, including Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito, Puccini’s La Rondine, Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Verdi’s Il Corsaro, and J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus.  Also a senior member of the music staff of The Santa Fe Opera for six years, he served as associate conductor for numerous productions, and assisted in the musical preparation of more than 25 different operas, including two world premieres.

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As a pianist and coach, Maestro Garman is sought after by numerous signers of renown, and has been called upon often to give recitals and master classes around the United States and Europe.  He received a Master of Music degree in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the legendary John Wustman, and recently completed a guest engagement at the University of Michigan.  He served an interim appointment as the Music Director of the opera program at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as previous educational engagements at Peabody Conservatory, Mannes College The New School for Music, the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and Duquesne University.

Recent summers also found Maestro Garman at Opera Saratoga for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Charlottesville Opera for a parks concert, while this summer sees him back on the podium at BOF for Gounod’s Faust.

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