Gary Clifford Dennis Brain OBE (12 August 1943 – 20 April 2015) was a New Zealand timpanist and conductor. He was a principal timpanist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra until an accident permanently damaged his wrist. Following the accident, Brain retrained to become a conductor, studying under Rafael Kubelík for four years, and attended master classes with Lorin Maazel. He was a professional conductor from 1990 until his death.