BRENDAN TOWNSEND
Music Director
Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale, TX
Principle Guest Conductor
Kingsville Symphony Orchestra, TX
The inspiring and charismatic young Irish Conductor, Brendan Townsend consistently demonstrates an "immense talent that has brought him recognition on both sides of the Atlantic". Since his arrival in America, orchestras have welcomed him to their cities and podiums with critics praising his energy and rare abilities and making such observations as … "(Townsend) crafted and shaped every phrase. His refined gestures make him look more like a ballet dancer than a musician, and the orchestra never sounded so good."
In just a few short years, Brendan Townsend has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras across Europe including the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Symphony Orchestra, Cork Sinfonietta, CSM Symphony, Broadway Dusseldorf, Opera Comique Maastricht, Opera Zuid, and the Transylvanian State Symphony, to name but a few, and since his emigration to the United States, he has already performed with the New World Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, Charleston Symphony and the San Antonio Symphony.
Currently serving as Music Director of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra, Townsend is continually praised for his unique and exciting programming, and within a couple of years of his appointment, he was made the recipient of the ASCAP Award for Innovative Programming by the League of American Orchestras and their commitment to the performance of modern music.
A native of Cork, Ireland, Mr. Townsend comes from a family of musicians and began studying cello at the age of five at the Cork School of Music where he also studied Orchestra, Chamber Music and Choral singing. After his graduation, he studied and trained in Europe, spending a year at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany and following, moving to the Conversatorium voor Muziek in Maastricht, (Netherlands) to continue his studies in conducting with Jan Stulen and cello with Mirel Iancovici. Townsend has also studied with Ilya Musin and Yuri Termikanov at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, (Italy), Sir Edward Downes as a part of the Kondrashin Conducting Masterclasses, and Christopher Wilkins and Leif Bjaland at the ASOL Donald Thulean Conducting Masterclasses.
Following his professional symphonic debut in 1994 with the Amsterdam Promenade Orchestra, he spent two years as Associate Conductor of that orchestra and also became Music Director of two Dutch chamber orchestras "Sinfonietta Geleen" and "Ars Antiqua et Nova" in Eindhoven in 1995. Over the course of two years, he was again credited for his innovative programming and renewing community interest and corporate involvement for both musical organizations. Moving to the United States, Mr. Townsend became the Music Director of the Bryan Symphony Orchestra in Cookeville, TN where he was widely lauded for his community outreach and involvement that resulted in a
broadening of the audience base and fiscal involvement with local organizations.
In recent years Brendan Townsend has been a proponent of many modern American compositions where he believes passionately in helping composers and quality works become part of the standard repertoire. He has recently performed the Ranjbaran Cello Concerto with Wesley Baldwin, the Hallfter Violin Concerto with David DeLambre, the Phoenix Ascending Concerto with pianist and composer Heather Schmidt. Other collaborators he has worked with include Cho Liang Lin (violin), Ilya Itin (piano), Stephanie Sant'Ambrogio (violin), Christopher O Reiley (piano), and singers Adrienne Danrich, Suzanne Ramo, Timothy Jones, Patrick Henckens, Melinda Hughes, Franz Kokkelmans, Joseph Crabtree, Claudia Chapa, and Eric Schmidt.
A passionate educator, he has been a frequent clinician across the southern half of the U.S. including Texas, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana and Tennessee. As a cellist, his primary interest is in Chamber Music where he has performed with the Laredo String Quartet, Tennessee Tech Piano Trio, and performs regular duo recitals with pianist Fritz Gechter.
Mr. Townsend is married to his college sweetheart Angeline.
REVIEWS
"The LPO seduced the audience with a magnificent performance of Danzon No. 2 by Arturo Marquez"
- Laredo Morning Times (3/8/10)
"The Dvorak symphony [No. 7] brought the audience jumping to their feet with excitement as Maestro Townsend wrought every ounce of emotion out of this masterpiece."
- Laredo Morning Times (10/27/09)
"The 1812 Overture, with additional brass from area schools, brought the house down. Townsend wielded his baton like a general marshaling his forces and the enthusiastic response of the audience led to a 15 minute standing ovation."
- Laredo Morning Times (9/28/09)
"The Messiah, which so often can often sound old and tired, rang fresh and new, with the many movements wound into a tight and well balanced whole under the inspired leadership of one man - conductor, Brendan Townsend."
- San Antonio Express News (12/7/01)