Brooks Clarke (1991) is a guitarist, composer, and music educator from Jacksonville, Florida. A prolific and dynamic performer, Brooks is well known for the variety of styles and instruments he can be seen performing in musical pits throughout the United States. From 2015 - 2020, Brooks was music director of Crossroad Lutheran Church. From 2017 - 2020, Brooks was the Music Director and Director of Bands for Saint John’s Classical Academy, a Barney Charter Initiative tuition-free public school in Fleming Island, FL, where he oversaw the music department and taught theory and instrumental music.
Brooks is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, earning a M.M. in Composition (Academic Honors) with a minor in Music Theory, with a concentration in Studies in Contemporary Music. As a music theorist, his work is focused on the analysis of works of composed theatre, and the music of Pierre Boulez. He is also a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Jacksonville University and holds a B.M. in Composition. At Jacksonville University he was also a recipient of the 2017 Delius Composition Award and the 2017 Jacksonville University College of Fine Arts Deans Interdisciplinary Award. Brooks was a quarterfinalist for the 2019 and 2020 GRAMMY Award for Music Education, for his work at SJCA. While Mr. Clarke was at SJCA, the music department was recognized with the FMEA Enrollment Award, with 59% of students at the institution enrolled in music classes.
As a performer, Brooks has performed with Pamela Z, Tony Steve, the Nick Brennan Band, the Noctambulant, Mar Zaleski, and Anthony Coleman. In his work as a recording engineer, Brooks has been the audio engineer for the podcast for the NEC NOVA Fellowship, served as head of technology for the NEC NOVA Fellowship, and served as an audio/visual engineer for the Atlantic Music Festival. Brooks was also the director of Tuesday Night New Music, a concert series affiliated with the composition department at the New England Conservatory of Music, under the supervision of Michael Gandolfi.
Brooks has had music premiered various festivals including the Longy School of Music Divergent Studio Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, the Charlotte New Music Festival, The Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and The São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival. Other compositions have been performed by the Arizona Wind Symphony, the Jacksonville University Orchestra, and the MOCA Jacksonville Silent Film Collective. Brooks has collaborated with ensembles such as Hypercube, loadbang, Transient Canvas, the MIVOS Quartet, Heartland Marimba, and the Julius Quartet. Awards that Brooks has won for his compositions include Mu Phi Epsilon Awards for Musicological Research, the Ellen Jane Lorenz Porter Grant for Graduate Studies, the Original Composition Award Division II, National Finalist for the American Prize in Chamber Music Composition, Short-List for Red Jasper Award, NEC NOVA Fellowship, NEC CPP Teaching Fellowship, and the META Fellowship as part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
As a teaching artist, Brooks served as an NEC CPP Teaching Fellow since 2020, teaching all grades in various subjects and lessons in music. He also has been a teaching artist with Boston HOPE Music, teaching the doctors and medical professionals of Boston MGH guitar, bass, and ukulele. In 2021, Brooks was a part of the first class of Teaching Fellows at NEC to take part in the Creative Youth Development Fellowship Program, created by the Massachusetts Cultural Council to enhance the practice of “creating a sustainable community of teaching artists in Massachusetts and a greater awareness of the resources available to benefit the youth they serve”, and “develop long-term models that best serve the experience of teaching artists…”.
Brooks studied music theory and composition with Jianjun He, Tony Steve, Bob Moore, Katarina Miljkovic, and Stratis Minakakis. Brooks has studied guitar with James Hogan, Gary Starling, and Tony Smotherman. Brooks is a member of the Jacksonville based black metal group, The Noctambulant, and is featured on the albums "Advocatis Diaboli", as well as The Cold and Formless Deep.” Brooks is a proud member of Mu Phi Epsilon, and Brooks proudly plays on and endorses Curt Mangan guitar and bass strings.