From 1952 until 1956 Patrick Brislan completed French horn studies with Alan Mann at NSW State (Sydney) Conservatorium of Music.
After completing his studies, he was appointed Principal Horn of the Borovansky Ballet Orchestra for the Sydney and Brisbane seasons, and in 1957 he was appointed a member of the horn section, Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
A year later he was invited to join the horn section of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and rejoined the SSO for three more years until 1967.
1964
During the 1960s he joined the West Australian Symphony Orchestra’s horn section, and the WA Youth Concerts committee.
Photo Above: WA Music Camp 1964. WASO tutors include: Patrick Brislan, Don Johnson John Gould and Ashley Arbuckle (all standing on the left and rear). Seated in the second row: Owen Fisenden, Graham Wood, Jack Harrison, John Mowson, Brian Meddemmen, John Dean, Stan Kowarski, Vaughan Hanly, Peter Randall, Brian Pope and also Prof. Frank Callaway.
1968
The Australian premiere performance of Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 by Richard Strauss arranged for five instruments by Austrian composer Franz Hasenöhrl in 1954 was performed by Graham Wood (Violin) Jack Harrison (Clarinet) Jill Harrison (Bassoon) Patrick Brislan (Horn) John Mowson (Double Bass) on Sunday February 29 1968 in the A.B.C. Basil Kirke Studio as part of the Festival of Perth.
FEW HEAR FINE RECITAL – By Sally Trethowan – Sunday February 29 1968
Fewer than 30 people attended yesterday’s free Sunday afternoon recital in the Basil Kirke Memorial Studio to hear what must have been one of the finest given this year by Perth artists. The oboe playing of Peter Randall in Mozart’s Quartet for oboe and strings was so good that an unchartered listener might’ve thought it was a simple piece. Mr. Randall gave such purity and accuracy to the naturally sharp clear tone of the oboe as to make even the accompanying strings in this piece seem cloudy in effect. It was duly wistful in the doleful minor keyed slow movement and cheerful in the finale where the virtuosic double-tongued passages were given within incisiveness, clarity and extreme rapidity. Violinist Graham Wood led seven other instrumentalists Stanislaw Kowarski (violin) John Dean (Viola) Brian Meddemmen (cello) John Mowson (bass) Patrick Brislan (Horn) Jack Harrison (clarinet) and Jill Harrison (bassoon) in the four movement Octet for Wind and Strings by the modern English composer Howard Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson seems to have a particular affection for clarinet and horn, and the success of the performance to some extent pivoted on Patrick Brislan’s horn playing which allowed no imperfection of tone to mar its richness. The program ended with a reduced version of Richard Strauss’s tone poem “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”. Originally scored for an orchestra of Wagnerian proportions of over 100 players, it was here rendered by five. Though without the percussion and heavy brass that in the full score are so graphic in describing the grotesque adventures of the mediaeval vagabond Till, it was a happy even witty performance. The final concert in the free Sunday afternoon series will be given in a fortnight.
Also, as a trained Podiatrist, he practised in Perth until a transfer to Adelaide in 1970, having been offered a position with the University of Adelaide Wind Quintet, and Teacher of French horn with status of Lecturer in Music.
During the following years Patrick directed various Summer Schools, including a national Master Course for Wind Quintet, and twice serving as Director of the Summer Schools of Music of the University of Adelaide’s Department of Continuing Education. He also initiated two National Percussion Summer Schools in 1982 and 1983.
In 1979 he was Awarded M.A. in Musicology from Flinders University, S.A., and promoted to Senior Lecturer in the University of Adelaide.
From 1980 he was elected Deputy Director, Elder Conservatorium, and was appointed Chief Examiner in Music for the Public Examinations Board of South Australia.
In 1983 and again in 1985, he was invited to be an Adjudicator at the Singapore National Music Competition. The previous year, 1984, he was elected Director of the Elder Conservatorium, University of Adelaide, a post he held for 4 years.
From the Straits Times 1973: ‘Speaking for the five adjudicators in the Western music section, Patrick Brislan from Australia says that as international judges, one of their responsibilities is to ensure that standards are maintained and excelled’.
A period of Study Leave followed during which he concluded an Exchange Agreement between the Elder Conservatorium and the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China, followed by visits to Essen in Germany, and Helsinki in Finland to make two presentations at the International Society for Music Education Conference.1988 – Sichuan Conservatory, Chengdu – with horn Professor He Tsong
Back in Adelaide he introduced “Diaghilev’s ‘Ballets Russes’” – an innovative Music History course using multi-media and incorporating methodological techniques from Suggestive Accelerative Learning and Teaching (“SALT”).
Patrick was appointed Associate Dean of the Faculty of Performing Arts in 1989.
During the 1990s, activities included adjudicating for the 3rd Malaysian National Mozart Festival and Competition in Penang, Executive Director, Cairns Chamber Music School, commission to prepare a Strategy Paper for the Visual and Performing Arts in Australia (for the AECS Canberra), initiating an S.A. state-wide concert tour by the Penang Youth Symphony Orchestra (Malaysia), three “Music Camps” for Taiwanese music students at the Elder Conservatorium in Adelaide, Graduates and staff concert presentations in Seoul, Korea, and Osaka, a Japan student recruitment trip, and a Poster presentation at the IDP/Education Australia National Conference titled: ’“Facing the Music” – Strategies for Performing Arts.
After retirement from the University of Adelaide in 2000, he was twice appointed adjudicator for the Broken Hill Eisteddfod and also adjudicated at the City of Hobart Eisteddfod. From 2005-2011 he served as Vice-President of the Board of the Central Coast Conservatorium, as Mentor for a Boston-based (United States) recruitment agency personnel during Education Expos in Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul. He recently completed 21 years of service as Volunteer Alumni Coordinator for the Australian Youth Orchestra and in association with his wife Lyn, continues adjudicating for the Bouddi Foundation for the Arts.
