Faculty Profile

Brian Chin

Brian Chin

Professor of Music

Email: chinb@spu.edu
Office: Crawford 107


Education: BM, Rutgers University, 1998; MM, Rutgers University, 2001; DMA, University of Washington, 2006. At SPU since 2001.

Dr. Brian Kai Chin is a musician, educator, and cultural entrepreneur. Trained in western classical, jazz, and world traditions, Brian’s musical focus is only part of his larger vision as the founder and executive director of Common Tone Arts and the chair of the Music Department at Seattle Pacific University.

With a wide array of musical activity, Brian moves seamlessly between soloing as a trumpeter, freelancing for world-class orchestras, composing new music, performing with the contemporary chamber ensemble TORCH, and producing socially conscious, multi-arts events.

Dr. Chin is focused on using music and imagination as a universal language to bring people together and celebrate our shared humanity. Much of this vision is embedded in his work via Common Tone Arts, a non-profit arts organization dedicated to inspiring positive change for our diverse world through arts education and music.

As the chair of the Music Department at Seattle Pacific University, Dr. Chin has recently led an innovative 21st- century curriculum redesign. This vision focuses on encouraging students to become cultural leaders by nurturing complete musicianship and engaging in socially conscious art.  

Please view Brian Chin’s CV (PDF) for more information.

Listen

Faculty Performers: Universal Language Project
Prayer Song, by Stephen Michael Newby
Chérie Hughes, Soprano; Brian Chin, Trumpet


Personal Links

Brian Chin’s website

Universal Language Project

Trumpet Arts

Brian Chin

Why I Teach at SPU

Brian Chin, Professor and Chair of Music

“A life in music is a joy-filled and humbling lifelong education, and I believe that we musicians, young and old, are on this journey together. The 21st century is an era that rewards the skills of the complete musician, and SPU is uniquely positioned to encourage this blossoming of talent. Through teaching, I consciously choose to invest my sacred time on Earth to walk and create with my fellow artists and incite human flourishing.”