Violin
Described by Strad Magazine as "Particularly impressive for her surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound," violinist Deborah Buck has built a strong musical career as chamber musician, concertmaster, soloist, director, and professor of violin. She enjoys a versatile musical life as the first violinist of the Lark Quartet, Assistant Professor of Violin at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, Acting Concertmaster of the Stamford Symphony, and as Co-Executive Director of the Kinhaven Music School.
Ms. Buck and the Lark Quartet have a distinguished tradition of working closely with the country’s most celebrated composers and commissioning new works, many of which have become mainstays of the chamber music repertoire. This history includes works such as Billy in the Darbies by William Bolcom for Stephen Salters, baritone, and Lark; Scenes from the Poet’s Dreams by Jennifer Higdon for Lark and Gary Graffman, piano; Quartet no. 1 Musica celestis and Quartet no. 2 Musica instrumentalis (winning the 1997 Pulitzer Prize) by Aaron Jay Kernis; Piano Quintet by Paul Moravec for Lark and Jeremy Denk, Quartet no. 2 In Memoriam and Piano Quintet no. 2, by Peter Schickele; Early That Summer by Julia Wolfe; Viaggio in Italia by Giovanni Sollima; Intarsio by Glen Velez and Big Time by Nico Muhly (commissioned by the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival) for Lark and Yousif Sheronick, percussion.
Since 2009, Ms. Buck served as the tenured concertmaster of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. In 2013, the BPO commissioned a piece for solo violin and a film from Nepal written by Randall Woolf called Gandharba's Song. Ms. Buck has been a leader of many of the New York and tri-state area ensembles. She has led the North Eastern Pennsylvania Symphony, Sympho (N.Y.), The Colonial Symphony (N.J.), the Music Paradigm Orchestra, and the Stamford (C.T.) Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Ms. Buck has held concertmaster positions with the St. Matthew's Chamber Orchestra (L.A.), the Philadelphia Virtuosi (P.A.), the North South Chamber Orchestra (N.Y), and the Los Angeles Opera Guild Orchestra. As frequent collaborator for music of varying styles, Ms. Buck has performed alongside Itzhak Perlman, Erykah Badu, Gary Graffman, Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), Grizzly Bears, and Jeremy Denk. She has also toured Europe with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
As recitalist, Ms. Buck has been featured at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Public Library, Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago for WFMT and Sunday's Live in Los Angeles for KKGO. Ms. Buck is also a frequent concerto soloist, appearing with the Little Orchestra Society at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony, Santa Cecelia Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles, and the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.
Ms. Buck has been the recipient of many honors and awards including the Los Angeles Philharmonic-sponsored Corwin Foundation Grant and the Leni Fe Bland Career Grant. She was a winner in the National Contemporary Record Society Competition, the Sorantin National Young Artist Competition, and the International Young Artist Competition at Corpus Christi.
Ms. Buck’s national television debut came by way of a feature guest spot on the Family Channel's, "It Takes Two" hosted by Dick Clark. Her violin solos for television helped breathe life back into the re-mastered American Silent Film classic, The Scarlet Letter, (Turner Classic Movies). Ms. Buck has recorded for Endeavor Classics, Koch, Arabesque, and the North South record labels as well for many major motion pictures and television. In 2013-14 and as Copland Fund recipients, Ms. Buck and the Lark recorded two new CD’s for Bridge Records.
Ms. Buck grew up in Los Angeles, CA and studied throughout her primary education with Michael and Irina Tseitlin. Ms. Buck received her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Juilliard School as a Starling Scholar of Dorothy DeLay and a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California as a Jascha Heifetz Scholarship student of Robert Lipsett. Later studies included three years of training in the Alexander Technique with Hilary Mayer. In November 2010, Ms. Buck was named Co-Executive Director of the Kinhaven Music School in Weston, Vermont. In 2013, Ms. Buck proudly joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Violin at S.U.N.Y. Purchase, Conservatory of Music in NY. Ms. Buck performs on a violin by Vincenzo Postiglione, graciously on loan by Ray and Marcia Corwin.
