Concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra since 1988, Brian Reagin
was for eight years Assistant Concertmaster with the Pittsburgh Symphony under
André Previn and Lorin Maazel. With the Pittsburgh Symphony he toured
Japan, China, Hong Kong, Europe, Canada and Puerto Rico and performed numerous
recital and chamber works in Europe, Africa and the West Indies. Prior to joining
the Pittsburgh Symphony, he served as Concertmaster of the Cleveland Institute
of Music Symphony Orchestra and taught in Carnegie Mellon University. Named
Concertmaster of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in 1996 at the Chautauqua
Institution in New York, he became only the fourth Concertmaster in the history
of that summer orchestra since its inception in 1929, joining a distinguished
list of musical leadership. With Chautauqua he has also performed concertos
of Korngold, Bruch, Bartók, Prokofiev, Schumann and Stravinsky.
Brian Reagin made his solo début with the Cleveland Orchestra performing
Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto. Since that time he has appeared as soloist in
performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Charleston Symphony, the Dayton
Philharmonic, the Syracuse Symphony, and the Wheeling Symphony. He has made
annual solo appearances with the North Carolina Symphony performing concertos
by Vieuxtemps, Paganini, Sibelius, Bruch, Korngold, Mendelssohn, Barber, Stravinsky,
Tchaikovsky, Bach and Vivaldi. Two days after the terrorist attacks of 11th
September he was called on by the North Carolina Symphony to substitute for
Itzhak Perlman, stranded in Detroit, for a performance of the Mendelssohn Concerto
at their Gala season opening concert. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute
of Music, where he earned a Diploma in Violin Performance in 1976 and an Artist
Diploma in 1977. For four years he participated in the Cleveland Chamber Music
Seminar, coaching with the Guarneri Quartet and with Mischa Schneider of the
Budapest Quartet. He spent seven summer seasons at the Meadowmount School of
Music where he studied with Ivan Galamian, coached with Josef Gingold and served
as both an assistant and faculty member. He has been a recipient of numerous
prizes, including First Prize in the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate
Artist Competition, First Prize in the Cleveland Institute Concerto Competition,
the Society of American Musicians Talman Award in Chicago, and the Jerome Gross
Memorial Prize at the Cleveland Institute.
