Bryan Griffiths, Phd, is a conductor, educator and researcher, 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, described by Limelight magazine as “a captivating timbral journey” and selected as Editor’s Choice in August 2024. The ensemble has also recorded Australian wind repertoire for Brolga Music. In 2024, AWO performed at the International Conference of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Gwangju-Gyeonggi, South Korea, presenting a programme of contemporary Australian music. And in 2026, AWO performed at the Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference 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 programmes. He has also been a casual lecturer in classical performance at the University of Adelaide, directing the Elder Conservatorium Wind Orchestra and Brass Ensemble. Bryan completed his PhD in Music Performance at the University of Adelaide in 2026, supervised by Prof. Charles Bodman Rae and Dr Luke Dollman. His doctoral research, A Conductor’s Guide to Contemporary Australian Wind Band Music, 2009–2024, examines Australian wind ensemble repertoire and was awarded a Dean’s Commendation. This work complements 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 for Education in 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 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, Nicholas Braithwaite, Keith Crellin and Charles Bodman Rae, 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.