Buchanan led the Maryland Choral Society in The Crown, a concert of regal Baroque and Classical music for chorus and orchestra. The performance, which occurred March 3, 2019, included Handel’s coronation anthems Zadok the Priest and Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, Haydn’s Te Deum, and Mozart’s “Coronation” Mass.
Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope returned to Midday with Tom Hall on WYPR radio in Baltimore to share festive carols and provide education about the mission of the choir and of Paul’s Place.
On December 9, 2018, Buchanan led the Maryland Choral Society in a performance of J.S. Bach’s cantata Wachet Auf, joined by soloists Kimberly Christie, soprano, Ben Hawker, tenor, and Jason Buckwalter, baritone.
Buchanan’s work for chamber orchestra, …and the madness of crowds…, was premiered by The Occasional Symphony on October 31, 2018, as part of the Halloween show featuring the silent film A Page of Madness.
In the fall of 2018, Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s in performances marking centennial commemorations, including Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, marking the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth; Andrew Maxfield’s Armistice Sonnets, as part of an evening of music marking the 100th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice; and a special service marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Lessons and Carols Service, originating at King’s College, Cambridge.
In October 2018, Buchanan participated in the National College Music Society conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Co-presenting with colleague Dr. Patricia Burt, Buchanan shared pedagogical research and techniques from his experience gamifying the music theory classroom. FOLLOW BUCHANAN’S GAMIFIED MUSIC THEORY CLASSROOM HERE
In August 2018, the University of Connecticut Opera Department engaged in a week-long workshop on Bessie and Ma, a new chamber opera by Douglas Buchanan and Caitlin Vincent. The opera was the recipient of a $25,000 commissioning prize from the university, and will be premiered in March 2019.
The Maryland Choral Society premiered Buchanan’s Altus Prosator on May 20, 2018. The work sets a medieval poem describing the creation and destruction of the world, and featured soloists Molly Young, Soprano; Taylor Hillary Boykins, Mezzo-Soprano; Ben Hawker, Tenor; and Daryl Yoder, Bass-Baritone.
The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club, under the direction of Joshua Glassman, premiered Jabberwocky and The Lobster Quadrille, two settings of poems by Lewis Caroll, on May 15, 2018. The works were then featured on a tour concert throughout the U.S. and Canada.
On March 18, 2018, Buchanan conducted J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion. The performance closed the 42nd Annual Baltimore Bach Marathon, a five-hour concert featuring Bach’s music.
Buchanan led the Maryland Choral Society on March 11, 2018, in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, featuring Melissa Wimbish, Soprano; Ross Tomaccio, Baritone; and Michael Sheppard and Joseph Satava, piano.
The Dallas Chamber Symphony and the Dallas Street Choir performed the world premiere of Crossroads, a chamber symphony commissioned as part of Buchanan’s 2016-2018 residency with DCS, on January 20, 2018, the. Theater Jones praised the work: “But the biggest cheers of the night were reserved for the final piece, the premiere of Douglas Buchanan’s Crossroads…. If the purpose of the evening was to remind us of the individual personhood of the homeless, I can hardly think of a better way to achieve that purpose.” Read the Review
Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope was featured in a pre-concert performance for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company on December 16, 2017, followed by a live broadcast on Midday with Tom Hall on WYPR.
On December 10, 2017, Buchanan led the Maryland Choral Society in a performance Vivaldi’s Gloria, along with works of Dale Trumbore and Rosephanye Powell.
Buchanan guest conducted the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, in the world premiere of I Will Sing of Mercy and of Justice, an anthem commissioned by the choir to commemorate the retirement of the Rev. Dr. Bruce Buchanan, Douglas’ father, and longest-serving pastor at FPC Dallas.
On October 29, Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s with chamber orchestra in a performance of J.S. Bach’s cantata Ein feste Burg to mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope was featured in The Baltimore Sun. Voices Rise was founded by brothers Douglas and Benjamin Buchanan, jointly supported by the Peabody Conservatory, Paul’s Place, Inc., St. David’s Episcopal Church, and St. John’s Western Run Parish.
On September 17, 2017, Buchanan led performances of the World Premiere of Amy Williams’ Brigid’s Flame and the American Premiere of Sally Beamish’s St. Catharine’s Service at the annual Evensong for the Feast of Hildegard von Bingen at St. David’s, Baltimore.
In August 2017, Douglas Buchanan was awarded the Sackler Prize for Music Composition from the University of Connecticut, a biennial commissioning award in the amount of $25,000. He will collaborate with librettist Caitlin Vincent to create a one-hour opera to be premiered in 2019, focusing on Bessie Coleman, the first female African-American aviator, and Ma Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas.
Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope, a new outreach initiative founded by brothers Douglas and Benjamin Buchanan to provide musical opportunities to those experiencing homeless or financial distress, was featured in the July 2017 episode of Out of the Blocks and in a feature article on BMoreArt. Read the full article here.
Buchanan received 2nd Place in the 2017 American Prize for Choral Conducting: Community Chorus Division for his work with the Canticum Novum project. Read more about the award here.
On April 14, 2017, Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s in a performance of Carlo Gesualdo’s rarely heard Tenebrae Responsories for Holy Saturday.
Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s in a performance of J.S. Bach’s acrobatic motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied as the closing offering of the 41st Annual Baltimore Bach Marathon. During the marathon, Buchanan also performed Bach’s Clavier-Übung III, the “German Organ Mass.”
Buchanan led the Maryland Choral Society in the Midatlantic premiere of Marianna von Martines’ Dixit Dominus on March 5, 2017. The program also included a work by Martines’ contemporary, W.A. Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore.
Buchanan was invited to perform the biannual John G. Schaeffer Memorial Concert at Reid Memorial Presbyterian church in August, Georgia on November 17, 2016. The concert featured works of Bach, Duruflé, and Buchanan.
In the fall of 2016, Buchanan received a $14,500 Dean’s incentive Grant from the Peabody Conservatory to support the founding of Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope. Based on the model of a street choir, the ensemble—founded in partnership with Douglas’ brother Benjamin Buchanan—welcomes those who are experiencing homelessness or financial distress. The choir, which is a partnership between Paul’s Place Outreach, Inc., St. David’s Episcopal Church, St. John’s Western Run, and the Peabody Conservatory, has been featured on the front page of the Baltimore Sun, on WBJC, the podcast Out of the Blocks, and in Bmore Art.
From 2016-2018, Buchanan is serving as the Composer-in-Residence for the Dallas Chamber Symphony, funded by a $60,000 grant from the TACA Foundation. During this residency, Buchanan will be working with Dallas County students and audiences to explore how music forms community. This project culminates with the performance of Crossroads, a chamber symphony written for the Dallas Chamber Symphony and the Dallas Street Choir.
On May 4 and 6, 2016, the Broken Consort performed the world premiere of The Green Fields of Amerikay, written as part of Buchanan’s 2015-2016 residency with the ensemble, as part of their “Made in America” concert tour in New York, New York and Baltimore, Maryland.
On March 13, 2016, Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s and chamber orchestra in a performance of J.S. Bach’s cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich. The performance served as the finale of the 40th Annual Baltimore Bach Marathon.
The Maryland Choral Society, under Buchanan’s direction, performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s Mass in C on March 6, 2016. The performance featured soloists Danielle Buonaiuto, soprano; Kate Jackman, mezzo-soprano; Joseph Regan, tenor; and Joshua Zanze, bass-baritone.
During January 2016, Buchanan participated in the New Music Gathering both as a panelist, serving on The Church of New Music, and as a composer, with Ensemble Encanto offering the world premiere of Cancioncilla Sevillana, a part of their Voces de Lorca project.
In June 2015, Douglas Buchanan was appointed as Artistic Director of the Maryland Choral Society. In this position, Buchanan leads the orchestra and chorus of MCS in concerts of canonical and contemporary works. Learn more about their current season here.
From June to July 2015, Douglas participated in the College Music Society International Conference in Stockholm, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland, where he performed his composition Between the Stones are Peace and Space and presented a Spectralist study on Sibelius’ 4th Symphony.
On April 3, 2015, Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s as both organist and conductor in a performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem.
Buchanan led the Choir of St. David’s in a performance of J.S. Bach’s motet Jesu, meine Freude at the close of the 39th Annual Baltimore Bach Marathon on XYZ date. During the marathon, Buchanan also performed J.S. Bach’s “Goldberg” Variations.
Buchanan participated in the 2014 Ecomusicologies Conference, presenting on play behavior as an evolutionary precedent to music-making and ritual behavior, and presenting a lecture-recital with Danielle Buonaiuto on cetacean musics.
Beginning in Fall 2014, Buchanan will serve as Director of Music Ministries (Organist and Choirmaster) at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Baltimore. Founded in 1906, the parish has a rich tradition of music, including hosting the annual Baltimore Bach Marathon since 1976.
Buchanan conducted the opening performance of the 2014 ACDA East conference on February 5, 2014, featuring the singers participating in the Canticum Novum project.
During June 2014, Buchanan was one of six composition fellows to take part in the St. Magnus Festival Composers’ Course in Orkney, Scotland. During the two-week festival, two of Buchanan’s works were workshopped and performed: Orkney Fragments, for mezzo-soprano solo, performed by Allison Wells; and Ri Marannan, performed by the Hebrides Ensemble.
In May 2013, Buchanan was named the Recipient of the Irving Lowens Award for Student Research by the American Musicological Society, Capital Chapter. He presented his paper Rhetoric Rethought: Affektenlehre in Context at the Spring 2013 chapter meeting.
Beginning in 2011, Buchanan will serve as Director of Music Ministries (Organist and Choirmaster) at Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. There, he will coordinate the choirs and the concert series, including the Old St. Paul’s Choir of Men and Boys, the second oldest men and boys choir in the nation.
In 2009, Buchanan was the recipient of the Presser Award, a $10,500 grant to support the tour of a new multi-media work, Colonnades. The two-hour piano cycle was presented throughout the Midwest, Southwest, and East Coast, including performances at the Fort Worth Museum of Moden Art, The Lyceum, and the Peabody Conservatory.