BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – IU Auditorium announces its first ever Facebook Live event with Les Misérables musical director and IU Jacobs School of Music doctoral candidate Brian Eads on Thursday, April 23 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT. The event will go live on IU Auditorium’s Facebook page which can be found at Facebook.com/iuauditorium or by searching for “IU Auditorium” on the Facebook app on any device.

 

Eads will perform songs from Les Misérables and other selections live from his studio in Nashville, Tennessee, during the virtual event. He will also field questions from viewers who can submit them by typing into the comment section during the live event.

 

Eads recently collaborated with David T. Clydesdale for an album titled Les Misérables: Symphonic Highlights that features songs “I Dreamed a Dream,” “Do You Hear the People Sing,” “One Day More,” and many more selections from the musical. The album is available now for purchase or on music streaming services.

 

In addition to being a doctoral candidate in Orchestral Conducting at the IU Jacobs School of Music, Eads also holds a Master of Music degree in Orchestral Conducting from Florida State University and earned a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Delta State University.

 

More About Brian Eads

In February, Eads was in Bloomington as part of the national Broadway tour of Les Misérables for eight performances at IU Auditorium and is the lead musical director for the tour which is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Along with his current work toward a doctorate from IU, Eads has served as assistant to various conductors including Arthur Fagen, David Effron, Cliff Colnot, Carl St. Claire, and Thomas Wilkins.

 

For the 2014­–2015 season, Eads returned to Indiana University as an opera coach and accompanist for productions of L’italiana in Algeri, La bohème, The Last Savage, and Die Zauberflöte. Past collaborations with IU Opera Theater include productions of Cendrillon, The Merry Widow, and Philip Glass’ Akhnaten. In 2014, Eads was awarded the Schmidt Conducting Fellowship with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. In June 2016, Eads was invited to be the conductor for the International Harp Concerto Competition in Bloomington, Indiana, and in 2017 Eads was engaged as the cover conductor for the Pacific Symphony’s concert performance of Verdi’s Aida.

 

Eads’ guest conducting credits include performances with the Great Lakes Chamber

Orchestra, Lima Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, and the Princeton Festival Orchestra. His principal conducting teachers include David Effron, Arthur Fagen, Crafton Beck, Alex Jimenez, and Phillip Spurgeon. Principal piano teachers include Dr. Donna Banks and Dr. Carolyn Bridger.

 

Eads was engaged by The Atlanta Opera to accompany the Choral Silver Celebrations, a series of concerts inaugurating The Atlanta Opera’s 2014–2015 season. In the summer of 2015, Eads was engaged as a pianist for the International Vocal Arts Institute in New York City with Metropolitan Opera assistant conductors Paul Nadler and Joan Dornemann.

 

As a professional arranger and orchestrator, Eads’ orchestral arrangements have been performed by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the 2016 Ravinia Festival. Recent premieres include orchestral arrangements for renowned soprano Sylvia McNair for performances with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, whose upcoming CD release by NAXOS records will feature two of Eads’ orchestral arrangements.