Brent Miller has a multifaceted career of international acclaim as a timpanist, percussionist, conductor, curator and educator, whose performances reviewers have described as 'thrilling' and displaying 'the utmost virtuosity'. Brent's extensive orchestral career includes engagements with most major orchestras in Australasia, including a number of years as Acting Principal Timpanist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Brent performs chamber music as Principal Timpanist of Melbourne Chamber Orchestra and through working with collectives such as Ensemble Q and Plexus.
Through freelance engagements, Brent has had the privilege of performing alongside renowned artists including Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel on their Australian tours, Diana Krall, Armand Van Helden, Tim Minchin, Sinead O’Connor, Gurrumul Yunupingu, Hilltop Hoods, Kate Ceberano, The Wiggles and Kate Miller-Heidke.
Brent studied timpani and percussion in Australia with Tom O'Kelly and Professor Vanessa Tomlinson. Later, by invitation, Brent studied intensively with the legendary Sylvio Gualda in France and is a proud advocate of Sylvio's virtuoso school of technique.
As a leading educator, Brent is Head of Percussion at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, a long-serving member of the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB), Vice President of the Percussive Arts Society Australia Chapter, and presents masterclasses, tuition and professional development sessions at schools and universities around Australia.
Brent is passionate about expressing the musical capabilities of percussion instruments to the fullest degree, and to this end, frequently arranges works for percussion ensemble from Bach, to Boulez, to Basement Jaxx and beyond.
As a frequent performer of new music, over 100 timpani compositions have been written for Brent, including Catherine Likhuta’s Timpani Concerto, premiered in 2023, which marked the second timpani concerto ever written by an Australian composer and the first by a female.
Brent is the artistic director of the 2026 Australasian Percussion Gathering, which builds on the legacy of Vanessa Tomlinson’s Australian Percussion Gathering (2010-2016): a week-long festival of concerts and masterclasses featuring international guests and attended by all tertiary percussion departments in Australia. In 2022, Brent curated the Xenakis Xtravaganza festival in Melbourne to celebrate the centenary of composer Iannis Xenakis, presenting performances of the majority of Xenakis' works for percussion, and commissioning Melbourne's own set of Sixxen (a unique metal instrument designed by Xenakis) created by Melbourne master craftsman John Rechter.
Brent has had the privilege of directing the Percussion Ensemble of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music since 2020, rebranded as MYRIAD in honour of the esteemed inaugural Head of Percussion, Barry Quinn. Each year, MYRIAD presents concerts with diverse and eclectic repertoire showcasing timeless classics and new works, as well as spending time in the studio recording Australian works for percussion ensemble for a future album release.