Spencer Brand

Dr. Spencer Brand is an active international performer, clinician, and educator who serves as Artist/Assistant Professor of Trumpet and Chair of the Brass Area at McNeese State University. He performs regularly with the Lake Charles Symphony Orchestra, Rapides Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Chorale Foundation, and the Calcasieu British Brass Band. His performance experience also includes engagements with the Symphony of Southeast Texas, Musica Nova Orchestra, Symphony of the Southwest, Chandler Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Brass Collective, and the Salt River Brass Band. 

 

A passionate advocate for new music, Brand co-founded the ‘Vive Ensemble with clarinetist Dr. Katrina Clements to commission and perform new works for trumpet and clarinet. The duo recently shared these commissions at the International Duo Symposium in San Jose, Costa Rica. The ‘Vive Ensemble has also performed at New York City Electro-acoustic Music Festival, the SEAMUS Conference, the SPLICE New Music Festival, International ClarinetFest® in Dublin, Ireland, and the Northwest Region College Music Society Conference.  

 

Brand’s research focuses on Czech trumpet playing and repertoire. His work includes a catalog of more than 200 works by Czech composers for trumpet, as well as interviews with prominent Czech trumpet players, including Miroslav Kejmar and Ladislav Kozderka. He has presented this research at the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the Historic Brass Society Symposium, and trumpet studios across the country. 

 

An avid clinician and teacher, Brand has worked with hundreds of middle and high school trumpet students throughout Louisiana and East Texas. He is passionate about helping students discover their individual sound and find joy in playing the trumpet. Under his guidance, members of the McNeese trumpet studio have achieved recognition at the national and university levels, including performances at the National Trumpet Competition, International Trumpet Guild scholarships, wins at the annual McNeese Concerto and Aria Competition, and competitive graduate scholarships at leading institutions. He has presented his teaching strategies at the Louisiana Music Educators Association annual conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

 

Brand earned his Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in Trumpet Performance, as well as a Master of Music in Composition, from Arizona State University. He received his Bachelor of Music in Trumpet Performance from the University of Minnesota, where he also earned a minor in Management from the Carlson School of Management. His principal teachers include David Hickman, Joe Burgstaller, Ladislav Kozderka, David Baldwin, Robert Dorer, and Albert Moore. Brand is a Van Laar Performing Artist.