Bio.
Daniel Brew is an electric guitarist, performer-researcher, and PhD candidate in Music at The Open University, supported by the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership. His research examines the development of the electric guitar within contemporary art music from 1945 to the present, with a focus on repertoire formation, performance practice, and the instrument’s role as a mediating technological agent in post-war compositional contexts.
Alongside his academic work, Daniel is an active performer working across contemporary art music and commercial music scenes. Since 2016 he has been a member of the Distractfold Ensemble, serving as Executive Producer since 2018.
His contemporary performance practice includes extensive touring across Europe and North America, with appearances at major festivals and concert series including Darmstädter Ferienkurse, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäße Musik, Tectonics, Cut & Splice Festival, Kammer Klang, Klang Festival, Musica in Prossimità, Spectrum, and Global Adapter, as well as participation in international residency programmes at CCRMA Stanford University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Simon Fraser University.
Within this context, he has performed with leading orchestras and contemporary ensembles including the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Ensemble Adapter, Ensemble Dal Niente, and reConvert, and has collaborated in the commissioning, premiere, and recording of new works by composers including Sivan Cohen Elias, Bára Gísladóttir, Andrew Greenwald, George Lewis, Michelle Lou, Mauricio Pauly, John Pax, Marek Poliks, Sam Salem, Zeynep Toraman, and Ute Wassermann.
His work in popular and commercial music contexts includes extensive session and touring activity as a session musician with artists such as Lisa Stansfield, Peter Hook, Rowetta Satchell, Cleo Higgins, Janet Devlin, Donnie McClurkin, Beats and Pieces Big Band, and the Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley Group, as well as appearances as a supporting musician with major touring artists including Simple Minds, Lalah Hathaway, Kaiser Chiefs, and Eric Benét. From 2018 to 2022 he toured with Haçienda Classiçal, performing at venues and festivals including the Royal Albert Hall, Isle of Wight Festival, Kendal Calling, and The Warehouse Project.
Daniel has contributed to higher education teaching through The Open University’s PhD Teaching Scheme, supporting undergraduate learning design, assessment development, and tutorial delivery. He has also taught privately in guitar and music theory since 2015.
He holds a Master of Music in Performance (First Class) and a BA (Hons) in Music (First Class) from the Royal Northern College of Music. He has received funding from the AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership, the Help Musicians UK Postgraduate Award, and the Roland Scholarship Prize in 2014. He has also received support from Arts Council England, the Hinrichsen Foundation, and the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. He was admitted as an Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2022.
