Brad Ellis

Who is Brad Ellis?

Brad Ellis is an American composer, musical director, singer, orchestrator, and jazz pianist. Ellis is perhaps most visible as the quiet teacher/piano accompanist for the high school kids on Glee, the Fox television show for which he is part of creator Ryan Murphy's musical production team.

Ellis grew up in the Boston area, attending Lexington High School. One of his teachers introduced him to the music program at Boston's Berklee College of Music, where Ellis would study music composition starting in the late 1970s, earning his degree between gigs over the next fifteen years.

Ellis had a long association with the continuously evolving Off-Broadway satirical revue Forbidden Broadway.

His Brad Ellis Little Big Band has released recordings, as produced by Bruce Kimmel.

Ellis arranged, orchestrated and conducted members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for their 2006 album Unexpected Dreams: Songs from the Stars, in support of the Philharmonic's "Music Matters" fund for music education. The album featured performances by TV and film stars including Victor Garber, Lucy Lawless, and Scarlett Johansson.

In 2006 Ellis orchestrated and arranged the world premiere of Billy Joel's "Waltz Variations no.2 op.5", performed by Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra, for the 151st Anniversary Gala celebration of Philadelphia's Academy of Music.