Biography
Dr. Zachary Bruno serves as Professor of Music and Director of the Liberty University Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony. From 2011 to 2022, he was Professor of Music and Director of Bands and Orchestras at Skyline College in South San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Bruno has appeared in concert with professional, community, and collegiate ensembles throughout the United States. Recent conducting engagements have included the Boston Civic Symphony, the Atlantic Union Wind Symphony, the Parkway Concert Orchestra, the US Air Force Band of the Golden West, and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra through the Eastman School of Music Summer Conducting Institute. Since January 2023, he has served as Orchestra Director at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA, and since January 2024, he has served as Music Director of the Adirondack Performing Arts Festival at CAMP-of-the-WOODS in Speculator, NY.
An avid proponent of K-12 music education, Dr. Bruno served for two years on the Board of Directors for the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Bay Section, frequently adjudicating at festivals and competitions for high school students throughout California. As a guest conductor for high school honor orchestras, he has led ensembles for the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) Northern California Section, the California Orchestra Directors Association (CODA), and several honor orchestras in various California counties. Comfortable both on stage and in the studio, he produced an album with the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the famed Skywalker Ranch in Marin County alongside Grammy Award-winner Leslie Ann Jones.
As an arranger, Dr. Bruno has provided pieces for orchestra, symphonic band, and marching band that have been performed in more than a dozen states. From 2013 to 2017, Dr. Bruno was Assistant Director and Staff Arranger for the University of California Marching Band in Berkeley, CA. As a college faculty member, he has directed performing ensembles including Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band, Wind Symphony, Jazz Band, Jazz Combo, and Musical Theater and has taught Music Appreciation, Music History, History of Jazz, Conducting, and Musicianship.
Dr. Bruno holds a B.A. in Music from the University of California – Berkeley, an M.M. in Music Education from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music, and a D.M.A. in Orchestral Conducting from Boston University. His primary conducting teachers have included Eric Hammer, Robert Calonico, David Milnes, David Hoose, Ann Howard Jones, John Page, and Gunther Schuller, and he has received additional training from Donald Schleicher, Benjamin Zander, and Neil Varon. He and his wife Kathryn reside in Forest, VA.