Uniting a “sense of creative imperative” (The Philadelphia Inquirer) with the “ability to get under the skin of [the music’s] core material,” (The Scotsman), Douglas Buchanan cultivates cross-disciplinary careers as composer, conductor, performer, and educator.

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Recognized for “clear, personal music,” Buchanan’s works are “filled with terrific orchestral color and weight, not to mention feeling“ (The Baltimore Sun), wherein his cross-disciplinary musicianship is evident. Most recently, the National Opera Association awarded Buchanan and librettist Caitlin Vincent the 2024-2025 Dominick Argento Prize in Chamber Opera for Bessie and Ma, an opera addressing issues of racism and sexism by exploring the lives of Bessie Coleman, the first female pilot of color in America, and Ma Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas; Bessie and Ma previously won the 2017-2019 Sackler Prize. As 2016-2018 Composer-in-Residence with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, Buchanan composed Crossroads, a chamber symphony featuring the Dallas Street Choir—an ensemble particularly welcoming to those experiencing homelessness—with poetry written by the Street Choir’s members addressing life on the street.

 

Buchanan’s compositional work has been recognized with grants and awards from The Arts Community Alliance, New Music USA, the Symphony in C Young Composers Award, the Peabody Dean’s Incentive Grants Program, the Macht Prize, and the American Prize; supported by residencies with the Dallas Chamber Symphony, the Broken Consort, the LUNAR new music ensemble, and the Shin Pond Artist’s Residency; and by commissions from the University of Connecticut, the Houston Grand Opera, the Occasional Symphony, Symphony No. 1, the Annapolis Opera, Rhymes with Opera, and noted poet and Shostakovich collaborator Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Composition teachers includes Michael Hersch, Nicholas Maw, Jack Gallagher, and Peter Mowrey, with additional study with Libby Larsen, Chen Yi, Sally Beamish, Melissa Hui, Alasdair Nicholson, and masterclasses with Christopher Rouse, Christopher Theofanidis, and Karel Husa.

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As a choral conductor and music director, Buchanan brings his devotion to new music to the choral stage, eliciting “assured, nuanced singing” from the ensembles he leads, inspiring a “keen sense of mood, dynamics, and pacing” (The Baltimore Sun). Through commissioning and recording he passionately advocates for the works of emerging composers and the diversification of the choral canon. Dedicated to helping all people realize their own musical potential, Douglas co-founded Voices Rise: A Baltimore Choir of Hope with his brother, Benjamin. Voices Rise partners with the outreach agency Paul’s Place and particularly invites those experiencing homelessness and financial distress to make music in a safe and inviting environment. He has served as music director for a Johns Hopkins study focusing on the positive impact on patients with dementia rehearsing and performing music with their caretakers. He has worked closely with the Dallas Street Choir, and is a founding member of the National Alliance for Music in Vulnerable Communities.

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Buchanan serves as Artistic Director of the Maryland Choral Society, and as Director of Music at St. David’s, Baltimore, where he leads the Concert and Evensong series, oversees the Ensemble-in-Residence and Composer-in-Residence programs, and the Baltimore Bach Marathon. He teaches musicology at Peabody Conservatory, where he received his doctorate, and has previously taught at Dickinson College and at Towson University. He is fortunate to have many opportunities to make music with his family: his spouse Kelly, a mezzo-soprano; his daughter Marianne, who enjoys singing about sea creatures; his brother Benjamin, also a pianist, composer, and multi-disciplinary artist; and his black lab, Grover, who purportedly enjoys microtonal interspecies improvisation.

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