Brent Chancellor

Brent Chancellor is an American conductor and composer currently serving as Music Director of the Montclair State University Opera Orchestra and Music Director of the LUX Initiative to develop young audiences. Recent engagements include Cover Conductor for Nicholas McGegan and Otto Tausk with New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Conductor to Stéphane Denève, Martin West and Joel Revzen at Festival Napa Valley, Conducting Assistant with Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Cover Conductor for concerts featuring André Watts, Leon Fleisher, Robert Levin, Seong-Jin Cho, Angel Blue and Lester Lynch. Mr. Chancellor has worked with musicians and young artists from The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Chicago Lyric and La Scala, as well as stage directors Joshua Major, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, Ira Siff, Jeffrey Gall, Lawrence Edelson and Joachim Schamberger. In workshops, festivals and coachings, he has learned from many celebrated musicians including conductors Cristian Macelaru, Riccardo Muti, Markand Thakar and Johannes Schlaefli, composers George Crumb, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros and Aaron J. Kernis, and opera coaches Benton Hess and Sherrill Milnes. He served as an Assistant Conductor to Paul Nadler from 2008-2013 and Ken Lam from 2016-2017. His opera credits include Tosca, Madame Butterfly, Suor Angelica, Tamerlano, The Rape of Lucretia, L’enfant et les sortilèges, Die Zauberflöte, Don Giovanni, Ariadne auf Naxos, La Traviata, The Rake’s Progress, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Boheme and Cendrillon. He is currently on faculty at the John J. Cali School of Music where he teaches conducting and instrumental literature.