As a conductor, tubist, educator, social entrepreneur, and publicly-engaged scholar, Brian Kaufman has shared the stage as a performer and speaker alongside the likes of Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Gunther Schuller, Emmy-nominated composer and genre-bending violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, the cult pop-rock band Tally Hall, The American Brass Quintet, and Her Royal Highness Princess Dr. Nisreen El-Hashemite. His commitment to social justice and civic engagement has shaped his contributions to the schools, communities, and organizations in which he has been fortunate to serve. He is a co-founder, artistic director, and conductor of The Sounding Board, an organization that creates productions that integrate music, multimedia, spoken word, and commentary from noted public figures to inspire new perspectives and cultivate dialogue on today’s most pressing social issues. Under his leadership, TSB events have run in partnership with organizations such as the United Nations, the City of Boston Mayor’s Office, The Boston Globe, National Defense University, Tufts’ Fletcher School, and the New England Conservatory. He’s been a champion of new and innovative music, which has included conducting the world premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s Gilgamesh on the Crooked River at Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Kaufman led the UMBC Wind Ensemble in their debut album under the Albany label, featuring new works the ensemble premiered by the composers including Daniel Bernard Roumain, Glee music director-pianist Brad Ellis, and UMBC faculty members Dr. Anna Rubin and Dr. Janice Macaulay. Additionally, the album includes UMBC alum Sam Winnie’s Nightfall in Lothlorien. Under Kaufman’s direction, the UMBC Wind Ensemble’s premiere performance of Winnie’s work was a finalist for the American Prize’s Ernst Bacon Memorial Award in the Performance of American Music. As a tubist, Kaufman currently serves as a core member of the Maryland Winds, a professional wind ensemble led by Timothy Holtan.
Kaufman has held several leadership roles with numerous pilot arts-in-education programs and professional organizations. He currently co-chairs the International Society for Music Education’s (ISME) Music Education for Social Change Special Interest Group and serves as the Collegiate Chapters Representative for the Maryland Music Educators Association (MMEA). He was previously a mentor at the NPR syndicated music radio show From the Top’s Center for Arts Leadership where he guided college and high school students in community music projects. He also served as a Resident Artist and conductor at an El Sistema-inspired program at Boston’s Conservatory Lab Charter School. In 2012, he was selected as the U.S. National Coordinator for the United Nations Rio+20 Global Youth Music Contest, which engaged over 1,000 youth from more than 40 countries and over 200,000 global citizens worldwide. As a researcher, he has been involved with consulting and assessment projects for arts organizations nationally through the Center for Music in Education (CMIE). His research interests include social impact through music, music learning as youth development, social justice, civic engagement, music teacher education, and beginning conducting pedagogy. Collectively, his work has led to presentations on 5 continents on entrepreneurship, music, and creativity as vehicles for social change at institutions including the United Nations, the Ford Foundation, Oxford University, and Yale University. His co-edited book titled Music Learning as Youth Development, available from Routledge HERE, features chapters from an array of widely-celebrated, international scholars who share their perspectives on how music learning can best contribute to young people’s social, emotional, cognitive, and artistic capacities.
Contact
Associate Professor
Music Education
Tuba/Euphonium,
Wind Ensemble
Office: 410-455-2422
Room: PAHB 257
brian.kaufman@umbc.edu
Education
B.M. in Tuba Performance and Music Education, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
M.M. in Tuba Performance, University of Maryland – College Park
M.M. in Conducting, New England Conservatory
Teaching
Music Education
Conducting
Director of Wind Ensemble
Tuba and Euphonium
Research Interest
Music Education
Social Change through Music
Social Justice and Civic Engagement
Music Learning as Youth Development
Conducting Pedagogy
Tuba Performance