Bret Silverman

It doesn’t have to be your best vocal performance ever; it just needs to be a moment that moves the listener.

Bret Silverman joined the Conservatory in 1999 and is a professor of theater. He teaches second-year musical theater (with Laura Marie Duncan) and has been musical director for the annual Senior Showcase for the past 18 showcases and counting. He is musical director for the Conservatory’s Musical Theater Acting Intensive summer program, and also serves on the student recruitment committee.

Prior to working at Boston Conservatory, Silverman was pianist and assistant conductor to the nationally acclaimed PALS Children’s Chorus. His cantata Tree of Life, for children’s chorus and chamber orchestra, was described as “uplifting” and “imaginatively written” by the Boston Globe. 

Silverman’s original musical The Paisley Sisters’ Christmas Special debuted in Boston in 1996, went to the NY Musical Theatre Festival in 2006, and has played in various cities in the United States and Canada since then. It is currently published by Stage Rights. His more recent children’s choral music is published as part of the Henry Leck series with Hal Leonard.

Silverman has music directed for shows at Boston Conservatory, the Barnstormers Theatre (Tamworth, New Hampshire), the New London Barn (New London, New Hampshire), Merrimack Repertory Theatre (Lowell, Massachusetts), and the Publick Theatre (Brighton, Massachusetts). He has taught at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Brookline Music School, and Brooklyn Conservatory, and has served as pianist and assistant conductor for the MIT Chamber Chorus and Concert Choir.

He completed his Bachelor of Music in piano performance at Boston University. He also has a Ph.D. in Shim Gum Do, a Korean martial art he has studied for 25 years with Great Zen Master Chang Sik Kim. He currently resides with his loving partner Andrew and his cat, Peaches, in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Professional Awards and Recognitions

• Certificate of Distinction in Vocal Pedagogy, 2023 Annual Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop
• Boston Conservatory Theater Division Faculty Member of the Year, 2014
• Song of the Year Award for “Gumdrop the Unicorn,” Indie Soap Awards, 2011

Recent Engagements

• Boston Conservatory at Berklee Convocation performance at Berklee Performance Center, 2023
• Music Director, Pianist—Boston Conservatory Showcase, Boston and New York City, 2023
• Guest performance (piano/vocals) at The Harmonie Club, New York City, 2023
• Music Director—Into the Woods, Barnstormers Theatre, 2022
• Pianist, Vocalist, Music Director—Public Displays of Motion, Gibney Theater, New York City, 2019