Meet Brent
Brent Morden is a New York-based performing artist with a varied career as a music director, composer, vocalist, educator, event producer, and arts program manager. Brent has conducted his works at Carnegie Hall and Off-Broadway, has directed ensembles at Columbia and Hofstra University, and has developed arts programs at leading nonprofits.
Born and raised in Queens, Brent earned his B.A. in Music from Columbia University. Since 2022, Brent has served as Director of the Hofstra Vocal Jazz Ensemble and Director of the Columbia Athletics Pep Band. Prior to taking these positions, Brent joined the music faculty at From Stage to Screen in Long Island, where he still maintains a roster of private voice and musical theater students. Since 2021, Brent has directed the Hunter College ES Voice Classes with Every Voice Choirs, an independent NYC children’s choral nonprofit that Brent served as Program Manager from 2019-2023.
As a conductor, Brent has led vocal and instrumental ensembles in concert at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Theater 555, Flea Theater, Teachers College, Tony Bennett Concert Hall, Riverside Park, and more. Recent credits as theater music director include Pippin (TBT Players, 2024), Guys and Dolls (TBT Players, 2023), Beauty and the Beast (TBT Players, 2022), Newsies (Plaza Theatricals, 2022), and original rock musical Infernal (Off-Broadway Reading, 2023, as composer/orchestrator/MD). Brent has had the honor of assisting acclaimed Broadway music director Rob Fisher, and has studied conducting with Maestros Jeffrey Milarsky and Mark Shapiro.
Brent remains an in-demand vocalist throughout the NYC Metro Area. Since 2021, Brent has served as staff singer at The Episcopal Church of St. Alban the Martyr in Queens. Known for his impeccable musicianship and sight-reading skills, Brent actively subs as a member of the NYC choral freelance community. Brent has performed for members of Congress and has sung with ensembles including The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Connecticut Yankee Chorale, and holiday caroling groups Christmas Matters Holiday Carolers and The Village Carolers. Brent brings his vocal expertise to a growing roster of private students ranging from middle school students to working adults.
Brent is a passionate advocate for artistic freedom, excellence, and humanity as the core guiding principles advancing the growth of arts & culture. Under Brent’s leadership since 2022, national nonprofit FAIR in the Arts has developed a grant program, has hosted film screenings and live performances around the United States, and has launched an Artist Directory to connect like-minded artists. Brent frequently hosts networking parties and other social events for creative professionals in New York City, where he is known for being a charismatic host and savvy networker.
Brent has been recognized with awards from the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Emerging Composers Competition (2018) and The American Prize in Composition (2019). Brent graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music, magna cum laude, where he served for two years as a Resident Advisor. In his spare time, Brent enjoys seeing comedy shows, lifting weights, and running in the park.
In the News
From Playbill to Columbia Magazine, Brent and his musical accolades have been admired by audiences all across the Tri-State area.
January 6, 2023
“Invitation-only industry readings of Infernal: The Musical, based on Dante’s Inferno, will be presented January 26 and 27 in Manhattan. [...] With a book and lyrics by Misha Mullany, music by Mullany and Brent Morden, and music direction and arrangements by Morden, Infernal explores consequences, remorse, and our own inescapable demons.”
Winter 2022-2023
Columbia Magazine
A New Columbia Marching Band Tunes Up
“Brent had four weeks to prepare for Homecoming: four rehearsals in a room in Riverside Church, where the brand-new Columbia Athletics spirit band converged on Sunday evenings with their horns and drums, and where Morden, the band director, had to get two dozen students who had never played together to blend like a passable Bordeaux.”
April 17, 2021
Her Move Next
Making Music by Magical Moves
“Magical Moves was conceived by UCLA psychologist Don MacKay and composed by Brent Morden. Founded on the belief that there is an appreciation and an admiration that comes with learning something new, Magical Moves portrays a chess game through an unlikely medium: music.”
November 12, 2018
“Brent Morden, the musical director of Columbia’s jazz a cappella group Uptown Vocal, was the talent behind the jazzy music of the show, constantly in tune with the moods of the different scenes. Yet for Morden, the musical was more than just the music and laughter—he hoped that people would learn from it. [...] The Pale Blue definitely achieved Morden’s aims. Nearly every scene presented the audience with a new complex adventure, successfully pairing the comedic and the compelling.”
