Principal Cellist of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 1999, Brian Manker leads a diverse musical career as a performer and pedagogue. In addition to giving frequent solo concerto performances with the OSM, Brian was a member of the Opus and Juno Award-winning New Orford String Quartet from 2009 until 2025, appearing throughout Canada and the USA.

Currently an Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, Brian is a highly sought after teacher, and in 2022 was honored as “Teacher of the Year” in the music department, he also leads annual summer master classes at the Orford Arts Centre.

Brian conceived and organized the Beethoven Project and the Adorno Quartet in 2007, a passion project, whose objective was to perform all of Beethoven’s quartets in their original setting: a private salon, and enhanced the experience with a comprehensive “listeners guide” including musical explanations, biography, in fact pretty much anything related to Beethoven!

In 2010, he made a recording of the complete Cello Suites of J. S. Bach.  

Brian Manker plays a cello built in Brooklyn, NY in 2005 by the world-renowned maker Samuel Zygmuntowicz. Brian has a wide range of other interests, including distance running, photography, and chess.