Malcolm Scott Brashear

Malcolm Brashear’s love of music began with his musical family. However, it was prominent Pottstown music educator, William J. Schinstine, who encouraged him to study at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree. Continuing to a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Michigan, he began a performance career, which ranged from Radio City Music Hall to Caracas, Venezuela, and Hong Kong.

He was percussionist under the popular Venezuelan composer/conductor Aldemaro Romero with the Filarmonica de Caracas, and Principal Timpanist in La Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal under Carlos Riazuelo. A highlight for him at the Filarmonica was performing with Argentinean composer, and bandoneon virtuoso, Astor Piazzolla who created an uproar with his adaptations of the popular, earthy tango form to symphonic works.

From the southern hemisphere to the Far East, he served for eleven years as Principal Timpanist for the Hong Kong Philharmonic under British conductor, David Atherton. The major artists of the music world came to Hong Kong: Malcolm had the opportunity to play under the direction of guest conductor, Seiji Ozawa with the visiting Boston Symphony, as well as with the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s featured performers such as: Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti and Isaac Stern. For the historic occasion of the handover of Hong Kong to China, a work was commissioned of Chinese composer Tan Dun, Symphony 1997, which featured cellist Yo-Yo Ma; the work, conducted by Tan Dun was performed with England’s Prince Charles in attendance, and recorded by the Hong Kong Philharmonic on a SONY Classics CD, the most notable of many of its recordings during Malcolm’s career there. (Select recordings include Symphonies 1 and 2, Kurt Weill, GMN, Stravinsky Collection, Vol. 1-3, GMN and Le Baiser de la Fée, Igor Stravinsky, Virgin Classics). The Philharmonic turned to Malcolm to do orchestral arrangements for its Pops Concerts.

Following the handover, Malcolm returned to the United States to focus on conducting. His mentors included Maurice Kaplow, former Music Director for the Pennsylvania Ballet, Charles Bruch, of the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conducting. He also received training through the annual Conductors Institute of South Carolina both at South Carolina, and internationally. He served as conductor of the China Dance and Opera Company Symphony Orchestra, Beijing, China; Rosario Symphony Orchestra, Rosario Argentina; and the Mendoza Symphony, Mendoza, Argentina. Conductors Institute Director, Donald Portnoy, the Ira McKissick Koger Professor of Fine Arts at the University of South Carolina, recommended that he formally pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting at the University’s School of Music. During this degree program he continued to perform as a timpanist with the Augusta Symphony, and served as guest conductor for a full ballet production of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, for a music theatre production of Steven Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, and for a program of never-before-heard Napoleonic-era military band music featuring period instruments in collaboration with the State Museum of South Carolina and the Fanfare Francaise ensemble. He returned to Argentina to do primary source work and meet contemporaries of Astor Piazzolla for his doctoral degree document.

Collaborations in classical, popular, and international genres are a mark of Malcolm’s career, which made its promising start in the Pottstown community.