A keyboardist and composer, Brian Schoettler works as a musician throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. Brian is currently Organ Scholar at St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in downtown Chicago where he plays their new Fisk organ and works with their 16-voice professional choir. Brian has previously served several congregations in Southeastern Wisconsin including his home church, St. Mary’s Lutheran, in Kenosha, WI and Evangelical United Methodist (EUM) in Racine, WI. Also a jazz pianist, Brian enjoys spending weekends performing with his jazz trio and several other ensembles.
Born in 1988, Brian began piano lessons at age six and his instinct to improvise quickly lead to a strong interest in composition. Brian’s first big premiere was for an audience of over 3,000 attendants as his work for concert band, Legacy, was performed as part of the 2007 Band-O-Rama festival in Kenosha, WI. Legacy was awarded 1st Place in the Wisconsin School Music Association’s 2007 Student Composition Project and was also featured in an article in Wisconsin School Musician (WSM) by Dr. Timothy Yontz. Brian continues to compose and arrange works for concert band, chamber ensembles, hymn concertatos, and music for a wide range of instrumentations. Brian has been fortunate enough to work with several composers and musicians like Jonathan Newman, Timothy Mahr, Brian Balmages, Weston Noble, Carl Schalk, Marty Haugen, Michael Burkhardt, and most recently with Dan Locklair at Yale University.
An avid saxophonist, Brian is a member of the Kenosha Pops Concert Band and the Racine Concert Band. In addition to his performance in large ensembles, Brian also leads his own saxophone quintet, The Schoettler Saxophone Ensemble. This ensemble performs throughout Southeastern Wisconsin and incorporates transcriptions of classical chamber ensemble repertoire while also featuring several new compositions written specifically for saxophone ensemble. Many of Brian’s own compositions and arrangements for saxophone ensemble have been premiered by the group including several Christmastide arrangements that can be heard on their latest CD recording, Rejoice! Rejoice!.
Brian has travelled around the world performing in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Japan, Belize, and Mexico with such groups as the Tremper Golden Strings, the Carthage Wind Orchestra, and the Carthage Choir. Notable performances include performances at St. Martin in the Wall in Vienna, Austria and at Islewerth Country Club (home of Tiger Woods) in Orlando, Florida.
Most recently, Brian established his own publishing company, Schoettler Music, as a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). Brian is also a member of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians (ALCM), the American Guild of Organists (AGO), and the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI). Brian also continues to teach a studio of students both piano and saxophone on a weekly basis. Brian is currently a student at Carthage College where he majors in church music, organ performance, and instrumental music education.