Jeffrey Brillhart

Jeffrey Brillhart has performed throughout the United States, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Cuba, Israel, and Europe as conductor and organist and is known for his musical versatility.

He was awarded first place at the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation in 1994. Since January 1983, Mr. Brillhart has served as director of music and fine arts at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, where he oversees music, education, and arts programs that involve more than several hundred children, youths, and adults each week.

From 1999 to 2023, he served as music and artistic director of Philadelphia’s acclaimed Singing City Choir, one of the first integrated community choirs in the United States. At Singing City, he followed a distinguished line of conductors that includes Elaine Brown and Joseph Flummerfelt. Under his direction, his choral ensembles performed with the Kronos Quartet, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Symphony in C, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Ignat Solzhenitsyn, Bobbie McFerrin, Dave Brubeck, Denyce Graves, Helmuth Rilling, and Rossen Milanov, and on tours to Cuba, Northern Ireland, Brazil, Germany, Russia, the Balkans, South Africa and Mexico.

Mr. Brillhart maintains an active schedule as conductor, organist, competition adjudicator, and clinician, most recently at the Kimmel Center, Curtis Institute of Music, the Eastman School of Music, Westminster Choir College, Furman University, Walla Walla College, and Baylor University. His organ improvisation textbook, Breaking Free: Finding a Personal Language for Organ Improvisation through 20th-Century French Improvisation Techniques, was published by Wayne Leupold Editions in 2011. A second textbook, A World of Possibilities: Master Lessons in Improvisation was published by Wayne Leupold Editions in 2018. His choral and organ compositions are published by Hope Publishing and E.C. Schirmer. In 2016 he was awarded the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence, presented by the Pennsylvania American Choral Directors.

Mr. Brillhart joined the Curtis faculty in 2023, teaching organ improvisation.