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.