A native of Northwest Washington, Brandon started playing classical violin when he was 5 years old. He was awarded a Starling Violin Scholarship with the prodigious Pressley Violin Studio when he was 14 years old. That same year, 1999, Brandon became the youngest recipient of the Silver Quaich for the Open U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship. He competed one more time in 2001 and walked away with his 2nd National Championship, taking first place in all four categories.
Brandon has been bridging the imaginary chasm between Classical, Jazz and Folk music pedagogy from the time he picked up a violin, bucking the naysayers mantra that these diverse methods shall never mix.
Brandon received Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Cleveland Institute of Music. His principal teachers: The Eleanor H. Biggs Memorial Distinguished Professor of Violin, Paul Kantor, Ron Patterson, Naoko Tanaka, and Margaret Pressley.
From 2007 - 2008 he held a Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he was assistant concertmaster of the Aspen Opera Orchestra and a member of the Festival Orchestra. Brandon has performed with the National Reperatory Orchestra, Akron Symphony, and the Cleveland Pops Orchestra.
An avid chamber musician, Brandon performed in 1999 at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival with the award-winning Rosette Quartet. He also performed at the 2002 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival's 5th Anniversary and in 2006 he toured Italy with the Zephyr Chamber Music Festival and performed at the Barbaresco Classica International Music Festival. He studied with members of the Cavani Quartet as well as Peter Salaff, Bonnie Hampton, Irina Muresanu, and Alison Wells,
Early music performance practice is one of Brandon's passions. He has performed under the instruction of the world-renowned baroque orchestra, Apollo's Fire. His early music teachers include David Greenberg, Cynthia Roberts, Jeannette Sorrell, Julie Andrijeski, Peter Bennett, and Rene Schiffer.
Through Brandon's background in Baroque performance practice, he has discovered an important stylistic link between Scottish folk fiddling and the "voice" of the baroque violin. Even though Baroque music is often considered a subcategory of classical music, the early music violinist's sound concept (or 'voice') is surprisingly similar to that of a Scottish fiddler.
Brandon's penchant for crossover music has led him to collaborate with many like-minded artists, including Mark Minkler, Irish flautist/Jazz pianist, Eliot Grasso, Uillean piper/Classical pianist, and Nadia Tarnawsky, Ukrainian folk singer/Modern Dance choreographer - artists who share a deep respect for their own traditions, while seeking out regions of common ground in order to build a bridge between seemingly disparate worlds of music.
While holding a firm belief in the unifying power of music, Brandon also appreciates the rich storehouse of beauty and mystery contained in the Scottish fiddling tradition, as well as his responsibility to carry the torch of tradition to the next generation. In addition to being immersed in the tradition from a young age, Brandon has studied and performed with Scottish fiddlers and folk artists such as Calum MacKinnon, Ryan McKasson, Alasdair Fraser, Iain Fraser, Pete Clark, Bonnie Rideout, Catriona MacDonald, Buddy MacMaster, Bruce Molsky, Jan Tappan and Martin Hayes.
In Scottish fiddling, jam sessions are the laboratories for developing fluency in both improvisation and style. In September of 1998, Brandon was competing in the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championships at Loon Mountain, NH. After the competition, about 20 fiddlers packed the lobby of the Nordic Inn, playing tunes until three o’ clock in the morning. Brandon recalls, "... being energized the entire night and really feeling like I was observing and participating in something magical – something that was infinitely enriching and satisfying in a way that is difficult to express in words. Many of us barely knew each other, yet we were already communicating on a very deep level through music. We were reaching out and speaking a universal language."
This musical conversation continues with fiddle friends and colleagues such as Hanneke Cassel, Jeremy Kittel, Laura Risk, Lissa Schneckenburger, Laura Cortese, and Brendan Carey Block.
"The fire burning that night in the lobby of the Nordic Inn was kindled the first time I saw Johnny Cunningham perform. I saw him play when I was 8 years old, and was so impressed with his lightening fast strathspey/reel sets, that I vowed to someday 'play as fast as Johnny.' I have since learned that there is more to music than speed and adrenaline - but it is still fun to play fast. He once told me, 'You don't want to be a fiddler ... there's nothin' in it ... that is, unless you have a hankering for indigestion and little sleep.' He said it with a twinkle in his eye, while eating take-out Thai food."
~Brandon Vance~