Brian St. John

The 2013-2014 season is Brian St. John’s 20th as a professional orchestra conductor. Dr. St. John is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at the University of Evansville. At UE St. John directs the University Symphony Orchestra and String Ensemble and teaches conducting and composition courses. Prior to joining the faculty at UE, St. John was at Minnesota State University Moorhead as Director of Orchestras. Dr. St. John spent the years 1995-2008 in Boulder County, Colorado, where he was Resident Conductor for the Longmont Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Longmont Youth Symphony and Music Director for the Niwot Timberline Symphony (now the Boulder Symphony Orchestra).  In addition to conducting hundreds of concerts in that span, St. John wrote and premiered seven original ballets, a piano concerto, a concertino for string bass and orchestra and a double concerto for mandolin, mandola and strings.  From 1993 to 1995, Brian was Assistant Conductor for the State Ballet of Missouri (now the Kansas City Ballet) and Assistant Conductor for the Philharmonia of Kansas City. Brian was also Assistant Conductor for the Colorado MahlerFest orchestra from the years 1993-1999.

Dr. St. John holds a bachelor’s degree in viola performance and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from Arizona State University.  At ASU Brian was an assistant conductor for the Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra as well as a conductor for the ASU Sinfonietta. While in Arizona, St. John also served as Music Director for the North Valley Chamber Orchestra and was adjunct faculty at Paradise Valley Community College; both in Scottsdale, Arizona.

St. John’s compositional endeavors for 2013-2014 feature premiering a new ballet based on The Little Mermaid with Evansville Ballet and the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and premiering his Concerto for Viola, Winds, and Percussion at the University of Evansville.

Dr. St. John also serves on the conducting staff of the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra where he is Assistant Conductor to the EPO and Conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.