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An Evening with Brendan Slocumb

Culturally Speaking Author Series

Join us for an evening with Brendan Slocumb author of The Dark Maestro, The Violin Conspiracy, and Symphony of Secrets. Registration recommended.

Event Timeline

6:00pm-6:40pm- Author Talk

6:40pm-7:00pm- Q & A

7:00pm-8:00pm- Book Signing*

*Copies of Brendan's works will be available for purchase from Brain Lair Books.

Find copies of Brendan's book(s) in our library catalog

Brendan Nicholaus Slocumb was raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a degree in music education, concentrations on Violin and Viola. For the past two decades, he has been a public and private school music educator from kindergarten through twelfth grade, teaching general music, orchestra and guitar ensembles. His students were often chosen for district and regional orchestras. In 2005, Brendan was named Teacher of the Year for Robert E. Lee High School; he has been named to Who’s Who of American teachers, and is a Nobel Teacher of distinction. Brendan also serves as an educational consultant for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Music has always played a major part of Brendan’s life. He believes that it’s a life-saving force, and a gift we should always offer our children. When he was nine, he started playing violin through a public school music program. Friends he grew up with are today sitting in jail; when they were out running the streets, he was in rehearsals. When they were breaking into people’s houses, he was practicing Dvorak and Mozart. His violin opened the door to opportunity, and he ran through it. Since then, Brendan has performed with the Washington Metropolitan Symphony, the McLean Symphony, the Prince George’s Philharmonic, and the Alexandria Symphony. He has served as the concertmaster for the NOVA-Annandale Symphony Orchestra and regularly performs chamber music with members of the Alexandria Chamber Music Society. He maintains a private music studio teaching lessons to students on violin, guitar and piano. Brendan believes that everyone can learn to appreciate and love music, and that it can be a new way of communicating, building bonds, and connecting with people who may look, sound, or speak differently.

In 2022, Brendan published his first novel, The Violin Conspiracy (Anchor Books), a GMA Book Club Pick, about a young man who discovers that his family’s old violin is a Stradivarius, which launches him into classical music stardom. On the eve of the biggest music competition in the world, someone steals the violin and he must get it back. In 2023, he published his second novel, Symphony of Secrets (Anchor Books), about a music historian who discovers that the world’s greatest composer may have stolen the music from a neurodivergent Black woman – and the powers-that-be will do anything to silence the historian. Brendan’s third book is The Dark Maestro (May 2025) about a young Black musical virtuoso at the peak of his career who’s forced into hiding when his family runs afoul of a ruthless criminal organization—until he fights back, using music to bring his enemies to justice.

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