Music alumnus Douglas Buchanan ’06 wins Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition

Composer Douglas Buchanan ’06 won the 2024-2025 Dominick Argento Chamber Opera Competition along with librettist Caitlin Vincent for Bessie and Ma. The award is just one of many accolades Buchanan has received since graduating with his bachelor of music in piano performance from The College of Wooster.

“I credit so much of my musicianship to what I learned at Wooster,” Buchanan said. “The Wooster Music Department was the perfect place for me. It met me where I was and then prepared me to enter into the broader musical world. The tools and skills that I learned during my bachelor’s studies were vital to completing this opera.”

Bessie and Ma is based on the lives of Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman, the first female African American aviator, and Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas. It was one of three finalists for the competition, which is awarded by the National Opera Association and supports the composition of chamber-scale operas designed for production in college, university, and conservatory opera programs. An excerpt of the work was performed at the NOA 2024 National Conference along with excerpts from the other two finalists. As the winning opera, Bessie and Ma will be produced in its entirety at the NOA 2025 National Conference in Savannah, Georgia.

“When they announced we had won, the cast was elated because they had really come to love it,” Buchanan said. “The performers told us they were grateful to have good music to sing within an important story to tell. That was really meaningful to me. I don’t want to make music for the sake of putting more sound in the air. I want to do it to make meaning and share important stories.”

Buchanan has been making music since childhood. When it came time to choose a college, he was drawn to Wooster for two main reasons. First, as the son of a Presbyterian minister, he appreciated Wooster’s Presbyterian roots. Second, as a bagpiper, he wanted to join the Pipe Band. In addition to achieving that goal, Buchanan was a conducting assistant, bass principal, and organist for the Wooster Chorus; co-conductor of the Wooster Concert Band; and percussionist for the Scot Symphonic Band and the Scot Marching Band. He is grateful to the music faculty, particularly professors Peter Mowrey, Jack Gallagher, John Russell, Nancy Ditmer, and Jeffrey Lindberg, for fostering a love for conducting and working with instrumental and vocal ensembles.

After graduating from Wooster, Buchanan earned two master’s degrees in music in composition and music theory pedagogy as well as his doctorate in musical arts in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. He has worked as a composer, conductor, performer, and educator throughout his career. As the director of music ministries at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland, he serves as the conductor and organist and directs the professional chamber choir at concerts, choral services, and weekly liturgies. He is also the artistic director at the Maryland Choral Society and a lecturer at the Peabody Conservatory.

“The training I received as an organist and conductor at Wooster has been invaluable,” said Buchanan, who met his wife, Kelly Gesch Buchanan ’06, on the first day of classes in Peter Mowrey’s Music Theory I course. “In addition, every theory and composition course I took has helped me write and arrange music professionally.”

In his spare time, Buchanan writes music for personal projects and tries to make time for painting and sketching. He still plays the bagpipes and has been learning Scottish Gaelic for the last two years. He also is a board game designer and recently signed a contract for his first game, which will come out in 2025. Wooster, he notes, helped cultivate his intellectual curiosity.

“There are always some ideas in the back of my head that are churning and working away,” he said. “Liberal arts colleges help foster a lifelong love of learning, and I think that that’s special.”

Posted in Alumni, Magazine on July 12, 2024.