CMEA Educator of the Year Dan O’Brien performs on his baritone saxophone at a gig.

Growing up in Canton, Connecticut, Dan O’Brien started playing saxophone in 4^th grade, and, even at that young age, a plan for his future was seemingly set in motion. Between private lessons and exceptional mentors, O’Brien knew that while he loved soccer, music would be his ultimate pursuit. Years later, at an all-state music event in Hartford, O’Brien met then-Western Connecticut State University Professor of Music and saxophone player Dr. Dan Goble, and the decision as to where he would attend college became instantly clear.

“The prospect of studying with Dan to improve my saxophone craft was what ultimately brought me to WCSU,” O’Brien said. “‘Doc,’ as we called him, was such a fantastic teacher and person. He was adamant that I could study both jazz and classical performance in small and large ensembles, as well as solo, at all levels. No place else offered this opportunity to be completely devoted to my music.”

As a student, O’Brien had the opportunity to perform not only with Goble, but with jazz composer Maria Schneider and other jazz luminaries at WCSU’s annual Jazz Fest. “Maria Schneider even critiqued some of my early writing, when I was still a sophomore,” O’Brien said. In his junior year, one of his original compositions was performed at the ground-breaking ceremony for the university’s new Visual and Performing Arts Center.

“I’m really grateful for all the opportunities and everything I was able to do at WCSU,” O’Brien said. “I was in six or eight ensembles, and it was a great way to exhaust all the learning opportunities I had available to me. My undergraduate studies at WCSU paved the foundation for my later graduate and doctoral studies.”

Dan O’Brien conducts a large ensemble.

His time in the Music Department also set the course for his personal life. O’Brien met his future wife, Magdalena Widomski, a fellow music student, at WCSU. They both graduated in 2012 with bachelor’s degrees in Music Education.

After graduating, O’Brien headed south to the University of North Texas for a Master of Music in Jazz Composition and Arranging. “It’s an internationally recognized program, very prestigious,” O’Brien said. After his 2014 graduation, he was offered his first teaching job at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, where students aspire to become professional musicians, and many of them go on to follow that dream at WCSU.

Two years later, in 2016, O’Brien was accepted to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he began to pursue a DMA in Contemporary Improvisation. An opportunity arose in Stafford Springs to teach elementary and middle school music students, and it just so happened that his wife taught there, too. “It was definitely a shift,” O’Brien said. “In order to teach young students, the most important thing is fundamentals. But I also believe in improvisation and creativity at all levels, so I had to find a way for students to experience that. I believe in leading with learning by ear first.”

For the past four years, O’Brien has taught in East Hartford, where his high school band director and former mentor, Tom Scavone, who had inspired him to consider becoming a music educator while he was in high school, hired him to be the director for the middle school global jazz and creative music ensemble and 6^th grade music and band. “We’re working on drumming and cultural rhythms from Africa and Latin America,” O’Brien said. “We need to reach students where they are and where they came from. They are learning to read music, but also to improvise by ear.” More recently O’Brien has added leading the middle school and high school bands, jazz ensemble and 8^th grade music classes to his schedule.

Additionally, O’Brien plays at least 50 gig dates a year. They range from jazz to improvisation, musicals to orchestras, including with Symphony New Hampshire. He said he gets calls all the time from fellow WCSU alumni to play with the New Haven Jazz Underground and other groups.

Dan O’Brien with his wife, Magdalena, and son, Braxton.

In addition to performing, what fuels his passion is sharing his love of improvisation not only with his students, but with fellow educators. O’Brien started applying to the Connecticut Music Educators Association in 2022 to offer presentations on how to break down improvisation for students. Since then, he’s taught his techniques at most Connecticut universities, and given at least 15 different presentations to National Association for Music Education (NAfME) audiences. His persistence in teaching improvisation was recognized with the CMEA Music Educator of the Year award in 2025.

“This is a well-known award in Connecticut, a distinguished award,” O’Brien said. “Hopefully it will continue the conversation about innovative ways of teaching and that change is possible and good. Trying to be original is really important, and my focus is on originality. I want to encourage students to create something new.”

That encouragement continues at home, where his 5-year-old musically inclined son, Braxton, is taking piano lessons, singing, playing the drums and learning brass instruments. O’Brien and his wife, Magdalena, place a high priority on getting him to love and enjoy music with an improvisational spirit.

“I’m definitely grateful for my time at WCSU,” O’Brien said. “It was a very special place to have spent my formative years while aspiring to play unique music, and it’s served me well. I recently showed my son around both campuses and the beautiful Visual and Performing Arts Center facility. My time at WCSU allowed me to cultivate a sense of pioneerism and has enabled me to try to make the world better by encouraging creativity in music education.”

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals, and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way.