Brian Viliunas

Clarinetist Brian Viliunas has given performances in eleven states and Washington D.C., fourteen countries, and three continents. He has played with orchestras in Houston, Racine, and Waukesha, and also the Bergen Philharmonic while living in Norway as a Fulbright Scholar. Brian has appeared as guest soloist with the Lignum Clarinet Ensemble of Holland, guest performer and conductor of 2007 Norwegian Grand Champion Band, Dragefjelletmusikkorps,and is a member of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, where he performed principal clarinet on their DVD recording of Verdi’s Requiem with conductor Placido Domingo. He has also performed with Lorin Maazel, Benjamin Zander, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Andrew Litton. A native of Greendale, Wisconsin, Brian has been successful in numerous competitions ranging from the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition in 2000 to being the furthest advancing American in the 2005 Carl Nielsen Clarinet Competition in Odense, Denmark.

Brian holds degrees from Northwestern University and Rice University and is now working on a Doctor of Musical Arts at Arizona State University. He is the founder and director of the Sustainable Symphony, a group that believes the Arts are one of Humanity’s most enduring endeavors. Brian’s main research focus is to make the Arts more relevant in today’s society, and this ensemble seeks to make the orchestra as an organization more sustainable. He also performs regularly as the principal clarinet both the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera and the Arizona Opera.

Prior to becoming a Teaching Assistant at Arizona State University, where he was also a Javits Fellow, Brian taught as an adjunct faculty member at Concordia University in Milwaukee. At Samford, Brian teaches clarinet, ear training, music technology, instrumental arranging, and directs the orchestra.