Deborah Buck

Biography

Violinist Deborah Buck has been hailed by The Strad for her “surpassing degree of imagination and vibrant sound.” Equally at home in recital halls, symphony stages, recording studios, opera houses, and even on Saturday Night Live, she maintains a versatile career as a chamber musician, concertmaster, recitalist, educator, and artistic leader.

Recent performance highlights include recitals at BargeMusic (NYC) with pianists Orli Shaham and Orion Weiss, performances on series such as GatherNYC, Lyrica Chamber Music (NJ), Reflections in Music (NYC), Sands Point/Four Seasons of Music (NY), Small Spaces/Orchestra Lumos (CT), and annually at the Telluride Chamber Music Festival (CO).

Dedicated to broadening the expressive range of her violin playing, Buck has premiered numerous works written for her, including DeBut for solo violin by John Harbison and Fantasia on Beethoven’s Spring Sonata by Bruce Adolphe. In 2025, she recorded September, a newly commissioned work by Curtis Stewart from his 24 American Caprices, as well as a new joint arrangement of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Louisiana Blues Strut with percussionist Yousif Sheronick. She was also featured, to critical acclaim, on a recent Avie Records release devoted to the music of Bruce Wolosoff. In 2026, Buck will receive two new commissions by Nicolas Scherzinger and Max Grafe as part of an upcoming recording project celebrating the legacy of new music fostered at Kinhaven Music School.

From 2002 to 2019, Buck was a member of the acclaimed Lark Quartet, whose boundary-expanding commissions helped redefine the contemporary string quartet repertoire. The ensemble collaborated with and commissioned numerous Pulitzer Prize–winning composers, recording extensively for Endeavor, Koch, and Bridge Records, and championing works by composers including Jennifer Higdon, John Harbison, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Paul Moravec.

Buck is frequently invited to serve as guest Concertmaster and has recently held that role with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra which included performances with Yo-Yo Ma. As Concertmaster, she has been engaged by the Phoenix Symphony, the West Virginia Symphony, and most recently by Palm Beach Opera. Appointed by Music Director Michael Stern in 2022, she is currently the tenured Concertmaster of Orchestra Lumos. Previously, she held the same position with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera Guild Orchestra, and St. Matthew’s Chamber Orchestra in Los Angeles.
As a soloist, Buck made her Lincoln Center concerto debut with the Little Orchestra Society and has since appeared with orchestras including the Princeton Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Orchestra Lumos. Buck’s recital appearances include The Phillips Collection (Washington, D.C.), Dame Myra Hess Series (Chicago), and Bargemusic (NYC), with live broadcasts on Los Angeles radio stations WFMT and KKGO. Her versatility also extends to film and television, including the violin solos for Turner Classic Movies’restored silent film The Scarlet Letter.

A dedicated educator and musical leader, Buck served for over a decade on the faculty of the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music as Head of Strings and Chamber Music. Since 2011, she has been Co-Executive Director and Artistic Advisor of Kinhaven (VT) and currently serves on the faculty at Montclair State University.

Specialization

I have been teaching at the college level for nearly two decades. I am a violin teacher for students pursuing a college degree who are willing to work hard and are eager to learn.

It is vitally important to me that my students learn to use their body in a healthy way in order to ensure the best possible sound. I am a kind teacher but demand a high work ethic. I enjoy sharing my knowledge of all the aspects of violin performance: recital repertoire, chamber music repertoire, orchestral repertoire, concerto repertoire, and operatic repertoire (to name just a few). I am extremely active in the current performance scene, especially in New York City. I find that the variety of my current performance life helps me inspire this next generation of wonderful violinists.