Brooks T. Salloum (he/they)  is a double bassist, music educator, and creative artist currently based in San Diego, California. Brooks grew up in Lexington, Kentucky playing folk music and studying bass at the School for the Creative and Performing Arts.They attended the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where they received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Double Bass Performance and studied with professors Rachel Calin, Owen Lee, and Aaron Jacobs. During their conservatory studies, Brooks performed under the baton of maestros Aik Khai Pung and Mark Gibson, traveled to the Czech Republic on a scholarship to perform with the Prague Summer Nights Festival, and collaborated with organizations such as Concert:Nova, ArtsWave, WavePool, WordPlay, Girls Rock Cincinnati, and the Fringe Festival. In UC-CCM’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Brooks was awarded the position of principal double bassist in 2021, and performed the famous double bass solo of Mahler’s First Symphony with the orchestra. Brooks has been hired as a recording session musician by renowned artists Kaylee Daugherty, Ric Hordinsky, Elsa Kennedy, Max Vignola, and Jack Blair. Although Brooks formally studied classical performance, their music endeavors have explored a variety of genres; having regularly performed with chamber orchestras, folk bands, jazz ensembles, rock bands, a tango group, a hip-hop orchestra, pits for musicals, and their own solo sets combining double bass with guitar, voice, and loop pedal. Since relocating to San Diego in 2023, Brooks has performed with local classical ensembles such as the Cabrillo Chamber Orchestra, City Ballet, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra; played at major music venues like Lou Lou’s, The Jazz Lounge, and Music Box; performed for private event booking agencies such as Lucky Devils and Louis Pett Entertainment, and is hired as a recording session musician for local artists like Kaylee Daugherty. Recently, they launched a new project; Anemone String Quartet, an LGBTQ+ centered string quartet for hire for LGBTQ+ weddings and events.

As an educator, Brooks maintains their philosophy that music should be accessible to all, and learning should be individually designed for each student. Since 2019, Brooks has taught private lessons and sectionals, as well as conducted ensembles at youth orchestras like MYCincinnati and the San Diego Youth Symphony’s Opus Project. They worked for several years as a band coach and Youth Programming Coordinator for the nonprofit Girls Rock Cincinnati which serves girls and transgender youth, and has since taught bass and band coaching in recent summers for San Diego’s chapter: Rock ‘n Roll Camp for Girls. Brooks currently teaches for nonprofit organizations Villa Musica and Miller Music Academy, teaches sectionals at local high and middle schools, and private lessons from their home studio. 

While working for non-profit youth orchestra program MYCincinnati, Brooks developed various programs and projects intended to disrupt the norm of what a classical youth orchestra is “supposed” to look like. In one such project; music students wrote and arranged their own accompaniments to poems written by fellow youth. In 2023, Brooks traveled to the Carnegie Center to present another project, “You are You”, an activism through expression project, for PlayUSA’s El Sistema conference. Brooks believes that music is a powerful force that can be used to build community, fight oppression, and expand one’s personal sense of self, and they are determined to incorporate this belief into their career as a performer and educator.