Thanksgiving Weekend: Disney’s Fantasia

Hailed for delivering compelling performances of innovative, eclectic programs, Brett Mitchell was named the fourth music director of the Colorado Symphony in 2016 and concluded his four-year appointment in 2021. He is currently artistic director and conductor of Oregon’s Sun River Music Festival. 

Brett concluded his tenure as associate conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra in 2017. He joined the orchestra as assistant conductor in 2013 and was soon promoted, becoming the orchestra’s first associate conductor in more than three decades. In this role, he led the orchestra in many concerts each season at Severance Hall, Blossom Music Center, and on tour. He also served as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, which he led on a four-city tour of China. In 2019, he returned to Cleveland to lead subscription performances of the film An American in Paris, and in 2021, he returned to conduct the orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival. 

From 2007 to 2011, Brett led more than 100 performances as assistant conductor of the Houston Symphony. He also held assistant conductor posts with the Orchestre National de France and at the Castleton Festival. In 2015, he completed a successful five-year tenure as music director of the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. 

As an opera conductor, Brett has conducted nearly a dozen productions, principally during his tenure as music director of Houston’s Moores Opera Center. His repertoire spans the core works of Mozart, Verdi, and Stravinsky, as well as contemporary works.  

Brett is consistently in demand as a guest conductor throughout North America, Europe, and New Zealand; and he has an affinity for mentoring talented young musicians aspiring to be professional orchestral players.   

Born in Seattle in 1979, Brett holds degrees in conducting from the University of Texas and composition from Western Washington University, which selected him as its 2014 Young Alumnus of the Year. He studied at the National Conducting Institute and was selected by Kurt Masur as a recipient of the inaugural American Friends of the Mendelssohn Foundation Scholarship. Brett was also one of five recipients of the League of American Orchestras’ American Conducting Fellowship Program.