Velvet Brown is professor of tuba and euphonium at Penn State University.  Prior to joining the faculty in 2003, she taught at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and Ball State University (Indiana), and served as an associate director of University Bands at Boston University.

Brown enjoys a professional career as an international soloist, chamber ensemble performer, recording artist, conductor, and orchestral player.  She is currently the principal tubist of the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra and the Altoona Symphony Orchestra.  She has served as principal tuba with the River City Brass Band, guest principal with the Lahti Philharmonic in Finland, and as a substitute or additional tubist with the Detroit Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, San Francisco Women’s Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Fort Wayne Philharmonic.  She has garnered high praise as a founding and current member of the Stiletto Brass Quintet, Monarch Brass Ensemble and Quintet, the Junction Tuba Quartet, and the Pennsylvania Brassworks.  Brown is also a founding board member of the International Women’s Brass Conference.

She has released four solo CDs, and has collaborated on several other recordings as a soloist and ensemble member.  Brown is a Besson/Buffet/Melton/Meinl Weston/Denis Wick performing artist.