Brendan McBrien grew up in Sunnyvale, California where he began his musical training on the French horn in 4th grade. He moved to Southern California to attend California State University, Long Beach, receiving his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music composition and conducting.
For over 30 years he played professionally in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas playing for symphony, television, movie, and theater orchestras. Brendan is an active composer and his many compositions and arrangements for band and orchestra are performed worldwide and published with the Alfred, Warner Brothers, Kendor, and Kjos Music Companies. In early 2024 he was commissioned to compose the opening work for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s performance at the Henry and Renee Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa California.
Brendan began teaching in the Irvine Unified School District in 1988 and has been the director of bands and orchestras at Irvine High School, Venado Middle School, and most recently Rancho San Joaquin Middle School. In June of 2022, he retired from the Irvine USD after 34 years of teaching.
Brendan is an active adjudicator, clinician, and honor group conductor who has served six terms on the board of the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association. He has presented many workshops at both state and local conventions and has received several awards including Middle School Teacher of the Year for the Irvine Unified School District and Orange County Department of Education. He currently teaches Music Arranging, Brass Methods, and supervises student teachers at California State University, Long Beach. He is also a lecturer in music education in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music where he teaches Instrumental Methods. Decidedly, Brendan’s greatest joy is being married to his wife of 36 years, Karen, and father to his sons Kevin, and Patrick, and daughter Megan.
