Brendan Connellan

Brendan Connellan, born in 2003, began taking horn lessons at the age of six. As a teenager, he studied with Susan Dent at the Royal College of Music Junior Department in London, where he won two internal competitions. At the age of 18, he moved to Germany to continue his bachelor’s studies with Prof. Szabolcs Zempléni, first at the University of Music and Theater in Hamburg and then at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK). During the 2023–24 season, Brendan played as an academician with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, and since this season he has been a member of the Staatskapelle Berlin Academy. In recent years, Brendan has performed as a guest musician with several orchestras, including as principal horn with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In the summer of 2025, he won 3rd prize at the Kodály Competition and 6th prize at the Aeolus Competition.