Deborah Buck

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, professor, and artistic leader.

Ms. Buck enjoyed seventeen years of exciting concertizing, extensive commissioning, and recording as a member of the Lark Quartet. The Lark actively pushed the boundaries of what a traditional string quartet could do by being one of the first quartets to commission works that feature added percussion, clarinet, voice, and piano. They have recorded pieces by many of America’s most celebrated and prize-winning composers like John Harbsion, Jennifer Higdon, Aaron J. Kernis, and Paul Moravec. The Lark has an extensive discography, having recorded albums for Bridge Records, Endeavor Classics, Koch, and Arabesque labels. Their final album, “A Farewell Celebration” included a commissioned octet by Andrew Waggoner written for the current members and the Lark Quartet founding members.

In 2019, Ms. Buck was awarded a SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music Faculty Incentive Research Grant that facilitated a commission for solo violin by John Harbsion called DeBut, and one other for violin and piano called Fantasia on Beethoven’s Spring Sonata by Bruce Adolphe. Since 2013, she has has been Assistant Professor of Violin and Head of Chamber Music at SUNY Purchase College Conservatory of Music.

For the past three seasons, Ms. Buck has led the Stamford Symphony (CT) as its Acting Concertmaster. She has held concertmaster positions with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra (L.A.) and the Los Angeles Opera Guild as well as many other noteworthy ensembles in the New York City area. As recitalist, Ms. Buck has performed at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. and over the airways via broadcasts of the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago for WFMT and “Sunday’s Live” in Los Angeles for KKGO and as an annual guest artist at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. She is also a guest soloist, having been featured with Lincoln Center’s Little Orchestra Society, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and most recently, the Stamford Symphony.

A native of Los Angeles, Ms. Buck worked for the motion picture and television industry. Her violin solos for television helped breathe life back into the re-mastered American Silent Film classic, “The Scarlet Letter” (Turner Classic Movies). Her National television debut came by way of a feature guest spot on the Family Channel’s, “It Takes Two” hosted by Dick Clark. During this time, Ms. Buck was awarded the Los Angeles Philharmonic-sponsored Corwin Foundation Grant, the Leni Fe Bland Career Grant and 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.

For twenty summers, Ms. Buck has taught at the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont where she and her husband have had the honor of serving as the Co-Executive Directors for the past ten years. Ms. Buck was a Starling Scholarship recipient at the Juilliard School as a student of Dorothy DeLay. She earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California where she studied with Robert Lipsett, and was awarded the Jascha Heifetz Violin Scholarship. Ms. Buck performs on a violin by Vincenzo Postiglione, graciously on loan by the family of Ray and Marcia Corwin.