American trumpeter Joel Brennan enjoys a diverse career performing as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician. As acting principal trumpet of the Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Brennan has performed throughout the Netherlands in the country's finest concert halls. He has performed with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Orkest van Het Oosten, Aspen Festival Orchestra, and served as principal trumpet of the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra under the directorship of David Zinman. His chamber music experience includes performances at the Cleveland Museum of Art's award-winning Aki Festival of New Music and on the Chamber Music Society of Yale's subscription series as a winner of the Society's 2007 Chamber Music Competition. As a soloist, he has performed works from Baroque to contemporary repertoire, including the United States premiere of Hans Werner Henze's Drei geistliche Konzerte.

The recent recipient of a Fulbright Grant to perform and promote contemporary music by Dutch and American composers, Brennan resides in The Netherlands where he maintains an active performance schedule. Highlights for the 2007-2008 season include the world premiere of a new commission by Boston-based composer Derek Jacoby, to be performed in Berlin in collaboration with So Percussion member Eric Beach.

Brennan received his bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music before pursuing graduate studies at the Yale School of Music where he is a candidate for the Doctorate of Musical Arts, a degree Yale has not awarded to a trumpet player in over twenty years. His principal instructors have included Roy Poper, Jack Sutte, Allan Dean, Arto Hoornweg and Raymond Mase.

An active teacher, Brennan has taught undergraduate students through the secondary teaching programs at Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University, and served on the adjunct applied music faculty at the Naugatuck Valley Community College. He presently serves as teaching assistant to Arto Hoornweg at the Utrecht School for the Arts.