Bryan Griffiths is a conductor and educator, recently appointed Music Director of the Band of the South Australia Police in October 2025. Widely recognised for his work with wind ensembles, he has also conducted orchestral and chamber groups including the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Hills Chamber Players and the Adelaide Summer Orchestra, which he co-founded in 2013.
Since 2019, Bryan has served as Music Director of the Adelaide Wind Orchestra (AWO). Under his leadership, AWO released its debut album Tangent in June 2024 with Brolga Music Australia, described by Limelight magazine as “a captivating timbral journey” and selected as Editor’s Choice (August 2024). That same year, the ensemble was invited to perform at the International Conference of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Gwangju-Gyeonggi, South Korea, where they presented a program of contemporary Australian music. In 2026, AWO will present a performance at the Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference, held at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
From 2024–25, Bryan was Director of Music Performance at Pembroke School, overseeing the school’s instrumental and ensemble programs. He has also been a casual lecturer in classical performance at the University of Adelaide, directing the Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra and Brass Ensemble. He continues at the University as a PhD candidate in music performance, supervised by Prof. Charles Bodman Rae and Dr. Luke Dollman. His doctoral research examines Australian wind ensemble repertoire, complementing his role as founder of the Adelaide Wind Band Festival, launched in 2023 in partnership with ABODA SA and the Elder Conservatorium.
Bryan’s early development as a conductor came through a decade-long association with the Adelaide Youth Orchestras from 2012, where he served as Associate Conductor, director of the Adelaide Youth Wind Orchestra, and chamber ensemble mentor. He has regularly conducted for the South Australian Music Camp, most recently in 2021, and in 2015 was invited to teach and perform at the Federal University of Santa Maria’s Festival Internacional de Inverno in Brazil.
He is frequently invited to present workshops and masterclasses for institutions such as ABODA and the Department of Education (South Australia), and has adjudicated competitions including ABODA’s SA School and Band Festival, the South Australian and New South Wales Band Championships, and the 2024 Yamaha Australian National Band Championships.
Bryan completed his Master of Music (Conducting) at the Sydney Conservatorium in 2018. His research on Nigel Butterley was published in Estudios bandísticos, and his mentors have included John Lynch, Alan Maddox and Nicholas Braithwaite, with further training in masterclasses led by H. Robert Reynolds, Mallory Thompson, Joseph Swensen and Gerard Schwarz.
Before turning full-time to conducting, Bryan performed as a horn player with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (2010–15), the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Sydney Sinfonia, Adelaide Art Orchestra and Australian Youth Orchestra. His principal teachers were Philip Hall, Philip Paine and Nelson Green.