Dave Buck

David Buck, Music Director of the Los Angeles Symphonic Camerata, served concurrently as Music Director and Conductor of the Guild Opera of Los Angeles with which he conducted nearly two hundred performances of works ranging in style from the Magic Flute to the Mikado, and as Professor of Music at California State University, Los Angeles. In 1997 he founded the Los Angeles Symphonic Camerata. 

A sampling of his international engagements include:  in the fall of 1993 he guest conducted the National Normal Symphony of Taiwan under the auspices of the Cultural Division of the Taiwanese government. In June of 1994 he conducted the Varna Philharmonic in the Varna International Music Festival in Bulgaria. In July 1994 he conducted the Pusan Symphony in Korea.  In March and April of 2004 he conducted the Shanghai Opera, the Huangzhao Symphony, and the Hebei Province Symphony in China. In September 1996 Buck made his New York debut in Avery Fisher Hall under the auspices of the United Nations.

The great American composer, Roy Harris, named Buck “one of America’s finest young conductors” (when I was young). Music Director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Herbert Blomstedt, commended him for his “sympathetic and inspiring manner”, and went on to say “What I have heard of him and his newly founded Los Angeles Symphonic Camerata confirms my impression of a man of exceptional skills and visionary drive.” Daniel Bareneboim invited Buck to the Deutsches Staatsoper Berlin “Unter den Linden” in 1995 and subsequently to the Bayreuth Festival in 1996 to work with him in the productions of Wagner’s Goetterdaemmerung, and Die Meistersinger von Nuremburg. The Los Angeles Times commended the excellence of his conducting The Marriage of Figaro saying that the performance was “distinguished by meticulous musical preparation...a Figaro production that served Mozart with dedication and success. The orchestra played cohesively, carefully, and stylishly.”

Dave lives in Altadena, CA with his wife of forty-five years, Linda, who is a noted piano performer and teacher.  Their three children are musicians too.  Deborah is the Concertmaster of the Brooklyn Philharmonic and First Violinist of the Lark String Quartet.  Jon is known as "Jon B" and has enjoyed a successful career as a performer, composer and producer of R&B style music.  He has six CD's published, two of which, have been platinum sellers.  Kevin is a virtuoso cellist with an impressive list of performances with some of the leading musicians in the world.  In the winter of 2011 he was a ski instructor at Dear Valley, Utah.