Brennan Szafron
A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, Brennan Szafron is the organist and choirmaster of the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Spartanburg, SC, a position he has held since August 2003. At this church, he is responsible for playing the organ for all services, directing two adult and two children’s choirs, and directing and arranging music for the instrumental ensemble and the Advent Toners hand chime group.

Before coming to Spartanburg, Brennan Szafron was the assistant organist and choirmaster of Christ Episcopal Church, Grosse Pointe, MI, with whom he toured France and Switzerland in the summer of 2003. He was also a student at the University of Michigan, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance, studying with Robert Glasgow. Other degrees include a Master of Music degree from Yale University, earned under Thomas Murray and Martin Jean and a Bachelor of Music degree, with distinction, from the University of Alberta, earned under Marnie Giesbrecht and Jacobus Kloppers. At the age of 21, he became a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists.

Brennan Szafron is the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. While at the University of Alberta, he received several Beryl Barns memorial scholarships and at Yale, he received the Edwin Stanley Seder memorial scholarship. He was the third prize winner of the 1997 Royal Canadian College of Organists National Competition and the 1998 recipient of the RCCO John Goss Memorial Scholarship for advanced organ study outside of Canada. In 2008, he received the third prize in the first ever RCCO National Improvisation Competition and was a finalist in the Marcello Galanti International Organ Competition in Mondaino, Italy.

In November 2004, Brennan played the Barber Toccata Festiva and Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 with the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic orchestra, and in July 2005, gave a recital at First Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC. On September 11, 2005, he gave a recital at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He has also performed on the 1998 Organ a la Carte series at Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary, AB, performed a 2000 recital in Regina, SK in commemoration of the death of J.S. Bach, and performed at St. James Cathedral in Toronto, ON just before the 2001 RCCO National Convention. More recent recitals have been in the L’organo series for the 2006 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, North Greenville University in Tigerville, SC, the Pro Organo series of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, Ottawa Center, the Cliffs at Glassy Mountain Chapel, SC, St. Thomas Church, New York City, Holy Family Catholic Church, Hilton Head Island, and First Baptist Church, Edmonton, AB as part of the 2008-09 Sundays at 3 series of the Edmonton RCCO Centre.

Brennan Szafron is a past dean of the Spartanburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a past president of the Edmonton RCCO Centre. He is also a member of the Anglican Association of Musicians and holds the Advanced Communicator Silver designation with Toastmasters International. He concretizes under the auspices of Concert Artist Cooperative, Sebastopol, CA.

Email: bszafron@churchofadvent.org