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Composer
Visit lewbuckley.com
Lewis J. Buckley was born in Columbus, Ohio, but considers himself a native
of Florida, the state in which he grew up.
He earned his undergraduate degree from the Eastman School of Music and his
Master’s degree from Connecticut College.
While at Eastman, he earned the Performer’s Certificate for outstanding
performance on the trumpet, and he studied conducting and composition.
He enlisted into the U. S. Coast Guard Band in 1969, where he served as
Principal Trumpet and Trumpet Soloist for six years.
Then, in 1975, he became the Coast Guard Band’s fifth Director at age 27,
a post he held for over 29 years, becoming the longest-tenured conductor of a
senior military band in American history.
Under his baton, the Coast Guard Band became a famed, national touring
organization; released some 20 recordings; aired more taped and live concert
broadcasts on National Public Radio than any other concert band, military or
civilian, in the United States; and earned a reputation as one of the most
accomplished wind bands in the world.
Upon his 2004 retirement, Buckley was named Conductor Laureate of the U. S.
Coast Guard Band.
From 2004 through 2011, Buckley served as the Conductor and Artistic
Director of the Manchester (CT) Symphony Orchestra.
For fifteen years, he conducted the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in its annual
Symphony on Ice/Toys for Tots program, and he has also conducted the Eastern
Connecticut Symphony during its summer series.
In 2007, he was named Music Director and Conductor of the Metropolitan Wind
Symphony, a superb community wind band in the Boston area.
This remarkable group has an active commissioning program which has added over
two dozen works to the wind repertoire by composers including Johan de Meij,
Peter Schickele, James Curnow, Michael Gandolfi (by consortium) Chen Yi, and,
in 2010, Buckley himself.
As a conductor, Buckley brings to the podium more than 35 years’
professional experience in an unusually wide range of music-making.
He is equally at home conducting, writing, or performing, with bands,
orchestras, and choruses, in all styles of music from classical to commercial
to jazz.
The guest artists whom he has conducted reflect his range of experience; they
include Walter Cronkite, opera giant Placido Domingo, Lorrie Morgan and Lone
Star of country fame, the Motown sound of Martha Reeves, and many others.
He continues to compose, arrange, and publish prolifically, bringing to his
work the knowledge earned in 40 years on the podium, and his music is widely
performed.
He also remains an active trumpet soloist, frequently combining solo
appearances with conducting, often in premiere performances of his own
commissioned works.
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