He earned his MM from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied organ with Russell Saunders and piano with Barbara Lister Sink.
A native Iowan, Brillhart has served as director of music and fine arts at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church since January 1983.
As music director, Brillhart provides artistic leadership for a rich program of concerts, educational instruction in local schools, and outreach to diverse communities.
During his tenure with Singing City the choir has traveled to Cuba, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, presented more than one hundred-fifty concerts, performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and worked with such internationally renowned artists as Helmuth Rilling, Dave Brubeck, Nick Page, Moses Hogan, Andre Thomas, Anton Armstrong, and Weston Noble, and Rossen Milanov.
His organ, teaching, and conducting engagements have taken him throughout America, Europe and South America, with engagements in Paris, Philadelphia, San Diego, Seattle, Birmingham, Alabama, Waco, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, Iowa City, Des Moines, Walla Walla, and Worcester, Massachusetts.