Prof Brian Priestman

Prof Brian Priestman

Conductor

(10 February 1927 -  18 April 2014), Birmingham

Educated at the Sidcot School in Somerset, Brian Priestman was accepted in 1944 as a music student at Birmingham University by Professor Victor Hely-Hutchinson, formerly of Cape Town. He served as a military conscript in Berlin during his student days and completed the Mus. Bae. degree cum laude in 1950. He continued with an M.A. degree at the same University, during the course of which he lived in Brussels to do research work on Anglo-French composers, with particular reference to the Loeillet family. He was also instructed in conducting by Maitre Defossez, and was awarded the Diplome Superieur de Direction d'Orchestre in 1952, the year in which he gained his M.A. cum laude. 

After six years as an apprentice conductor with the former Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra, and as a freelance lecturer and conductor, in 1958 he became a Leverhulme Scholar attached to Philomusica in London. During the next two years he edited, amongst other things, Handel's Water music and Messiah for the German Eulenburg Edition and acted as a harpsichordist in, and conductor of an instrumental ensemble. The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-on-Avon (renamed The Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964), engaged him as Music Director in 1961. His term of office was distinguished by the Shakespeare Quadricentenary in 1964; he had the task of co-ordinating all the music of the Festival. During this period he visited America with the review The hollow crown and directed orchestras in both America and Canada (1962). This led in 1964 to his appointment as conductor of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Alberta, Canada, an appointment which did not preclude his meeting further commitments in England with the New Opera Company attached to Saddler's Wells and becoming a guest conductor in various Canadian centres. In 1968, the last year spent in Alberta, he conducted the Canadian National Youth Orchestra on their nationwide tour as part of Canada's centenary celebrations.

In 1968 Brian Priestman moved to the USA where he conducted in succession the symphony orchestras of Baltimore (1968-1970), Denver (1970-1977) and Miami (the Florida Harmonic Orchestra). Until the end of 1978 he served both Denver and Miami and toured extensively with the Denver Orchestra. Between 1978 and 1980 he was engaged as a guest conductor in America, Europe and New Zealand, giving between 80 and 110 concerts annually.

His association with South Africa dates from 1975 when he was invited to conduct the SABC's National Symphony Orchestra. It was continued in 1979 when he returned to conduct the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra (Cape Town Symphony Orchestra) for a season; in 1980 he became their Principal Guest Conductor (1980-1986), and in December of that year he was appointed successor to Michael Brimer, the former Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Cape Town. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Music from 1981 – 1987.

Priestman wrote articles in music periodicals and encyclopaedias including the New Grove Encyclopedia, Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Encycloaedia Britannica, and Music and Letters.

He was awarded honorary doctorates from Regis University, Denver, and the University of Colorado. He was awarded the Golden Lyre by the American Institute of High Fidelity for services to music in the United States.

On 18 April 2014, he died at his home in Broze, France. 

Sources:

Malan, Dr. Jacque P., ed. South African Music Encyclopaedia. Vol. 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979, 137-138.

“Brian Priestman,” Wikipedia, last modified November 9, 2025, accessed December 19, 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Priestman