Brian Buckstead

Music

Dr. Brian Buckstead has performed extensively as an orchestral, chamber, and solo musician. In addition to performing with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Madison Symphony Orchestra, Brian was concertmaster of the Beloit Janesville Symphony. He is the featured soloist on their CD Baroque Masterworks, playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4. Other CDs include Close to the Music, Momentum, Live From the Oscar Mayer Theatre, A Madison Christmas, and Mozart: The Early Concerti with pianist Adam Neiman and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.

Dr. Buckstead received his Bachelor's Degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his Master and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in violin performance. His teachers have included Beatrix Lien, Charles Gray, and David Perry. Brian has held positions at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and Beloit College, where he taught violin, viola, chamber music, music history, music fundamentals, and directed the college orchestra.

Brian has appeared as soloist with the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, the St. Olaf Orchestra, the St. Olaf Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Wisconsin Sinfonietta. He has also toured with the St. Olaf Choir, performing in Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center. In January 2008, Brian toured China with the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra as soloist in the Butterfly Lover's Violin Concerto. Other concerto performances include Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Havanaise by Saint-Saëns, the Concertino for Violin and Wind Octet by Robert Linn, and the violin concertos of Mendelssohn and Philip Glass.

Brian has traveled extensively, including numerous trips to Thailand and Malaysia. He has taught violin, viola, and chamber music at Srinakharinwirot University in Bangkok, Thailand, studied and performed Arabic music in Syria, and has researched the Kecak in Indonesia.

Contact Information

Music
Gustavus Adolphus College
800 West College Avenue
Saint Peter, MN 56082

Phone: 507-933-7360
E-mail: bbuckste@gustavus.edu

Courses Taught

• Philharmonic Orchestra
• String Techniques

Brian Buckstead's Schedule