Brian Stratton
Presenter - Mills Music Missions
Biography
Brother Stratton has given three decades of service to Sinfonia. He was elected to the first class of Collegiate Province Representatives in 1982 and served as a delegate to the transformational Assembly in 1985. He has served as Governor of Province 14 since 1995, and was the Fraternity’s first African-American National Executive Committee member, as National Vice President for the triennium 1997-2000, and in 2010, he was inducted into the Alpha Alpha National Honorary chapter. Brother Stratton continues to travel to workshops and events to promote the Fraternity and the Object, and he is known throughout the Broader Brotherhood as a true Sinfonia Legend.
Brother Stratton has enjoyed a successful career as a concert artist and music educator. For nearly 22 years, Brother Stratton was a member and featured soloist with the acclaimed Moses Hogan Chorale and Singers. His concert performances and over a dozen recordings have received wide acclaim worldwide including being featured on the CD “Voices” on the Windham Hill label, and with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on their CD “An American Heritage of Spirituals.” Since 2003 he has worked to promote the Spiritual arrangements of Mr. Hogan and other renowned composers and arrangers in workshops, seminars, and choral clinics around the world where he has conducted vocal workshops in France, Estonia, and Russia. In the United States, Brother Stratton has served as a choral clinician and conductor for choirs in Oregon, Michigan, Georgia, Louisiana, Alaska, Texas, Indiana, and New York, and in 2004 he was one of only two clinicians from the United States at the World Projects-International Australian Music Festival held in Sydney and Bathurst, Australia.
At age 24 he conducted the World’s Fair Barbershop Chorus for international audiences, and in 1988 he was a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions. He has performed opera, concert recitals, Broadway reviews, and oratorio both in the United States and abroad. Brother Stratton has appeared at the White House on four occasions, performing American folk music, Broadway tunes, Christmas music, and Spirituals for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and William Jefferson Clinton.
Anyone who has worked with Brother Stratton can attest to his inspirational demeanor and dedication to his craft. The opportunity to work with him at the Convention, or simply to hear the Fraternity’s Men of Song chorus perform under Brother Stratton’s direction, promises to be a special experience for all in attendance.