In a career as a freelancing musician diversity of skills is an important trait. Brian Sørenson accomplishes this by actively taking on many roles across the industry. While primarily working as a guitarist in live and studio settings, which in themselves are two different worlds, Brian has expanded his skills to include audio engineering and production, drawing heavily from his background in theory and composition to make the best of each project he works on.
Brian also has had a long time interest in education, helping students of all ages and skill level. In Nashville he previously taught at the Nashville School of Rock. Brian currently works for Vanderbilt University's Acorn School as a Lead Preschool Teacher. Having previously worked with many different ages groups, primarily as a music teacher, the path of his career has lead him to working with our youngest learners, developing and preparing their minds for a great life ahead. Brian advocates for music and arts in education and incorporates a variety of music into his classroom, including a daily music time with the kids.
Brian has a strong technical understanding of music. He has achieved a Master of Music degree in Classical Guitar and a Master of Music degree in Music Theory, both from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He previously had earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Albion College in Albion, Michigan, double-majoring in Guitar Performance and Economics & Management.
Brian Sørenson released his debut solo album, "Shape of Fire," on March 2, 2018. The album was produced and recorded independently by the artist at Segue 61 Studio in Nashville and mixed and mastered by Jamie King (Between the Buried and Me, The Contortionist, etc.) at The Basement Recording in Winston-Salem, NC. It is currently streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and many other stores; available for download from iTunes and Amazon, among others; and available for purchase on CD through Bandcamp as well as this site's store. As a solo artist Brian's main influences include rock music spanning The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Radiohead, Muse, Mastodon and The Mars Volta; European classical music from Brahms to Schoenberg; as well as the music of Latin America.
As a guitarist Brian Sørenson has experience performing professionally with acoustic, electric, and classical (nylon) guitars, as well as banjo, mandolin, 12-string guitar, b-bender guitar, and ukulele. In Nashville, Brian works as a sideman and "hired-gun" with various songwriters, performing for both live and recorded music. He also works as a recording engineer, producer, and studio musician on several instruments. Brian also recently engineered an EP for the prog-metal band Atma Weapon called Through Seas of Gray.
Brian was a participant in the inaugural class of the Segue 61 certificate program in Nashville. This highly selective boutique mentoring program takes skilled musicians and directs them on how to make use of their skills in all aspects of the ever-changing music industry. The program accepted only 10 participants in the first year.
While pursuing graduate school in Cincinnati, Brian was active as a teacher and performer around the city. At CCM he taught as a Graduate Assistant in each of the Classical Guitar and Music Theory departments in separate years. He also taught music lessons with several schools including Cincinnati School of Music, West Chester Academy of Music and Dance, and Music Makers of Cincinnati.
Freelancing as a performer Brian has played with many ensembles including extensive work as a theater musician. To date he has performed many of the major musical theater works that use guitar including Rock of Ages, Rent, The Who's Tommy, Grease, Hair, Footloose, All Shook Up, Ring of Fire, The Wedding Singer, and Hairspray, among others, and has appeared in multiple productions for several of these shows.
As a classical guitarist, Brian has performed a variety of solo and chamber works. He has also appeared in masterclasses with many artists including Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Gaelle Solal, Daniel Lippel, Rovshan Mamedkuliev, and Michael Partington.
During the summers of 2009 through 2011, Brian worked as a Guitar Instructor for the Long Lake Camp for the Arts in Long Lake, NY. On the staff he taught applied lessons to all levels of students in many styles and directed many ensembles in Rock, Blues, and Jazz styles, among others. A focus of the camp was its theater program a part of which Brian performed as a pit musician.
