Noted for his “glowing, honeyed tone” according to NJ.com, Brennan Sweet has enchanted audiences for years with his delightful musicality and mastery of the violin. Brennan began his violin studies at the age of two in one of the first Suzuki programs in Canada, and as a teenager took lessons at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music while living in Budapest with his family. Studying later with the great master Josef Gingold at Indiana University, Sweet had the rare opportunity to serve as Professor Gingold’s teaching assistant for three years before joining the faculty of Indiana University as Lecturer, a position in which he helped students on artistic probation succeed in passing their juries. Mr. Sweet performed in several professional ensembles while in Indiana, including Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony and Chicago Sinfonietta, and held concertmaster positions of several regional orchestras including Evansville Philharmonic, Owensboro Symphony and Richmond Symphony, beginning his career as an orchestral leader. He was a founding member of the Evansville String Quartet and performed as Assistant Concertmaster of the Colorado Music Festival for two seasons under Giora Bernstein. In 1994 Mr. Sweet joined the New Jersey Symphony as Associate Concertmaster and subsequently led the orchestra for three seasons as Acting Concertmaster under the baton of Maestro Zdeněk Mácal. Mr. Sweet performed in other ensembles in the NYC area including Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center and American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein and has served as concertmaster for Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New York Chamber Symphony and New Jersey Festival Orchestra. As a versatile musician Sweet has also played for various Broadway shows over the years such as Crazy For You, Candide, and High Society. He has performed extensively as a chamber musician and soloist throughout the tri-state area and was a faculty member of Kean University’s Concert Artists program. Mr. Sweet currently teaches at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and continues to perform as soloist and chamber musician throughout New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area.
