Brian Buch Wins Honorable Mention
When Brian Buch (CFA’09) was in middle school, he and his friends wrote music for their jazz and rock groups. Now, 10 years later, Buch is composing for a more critical audience with great success: this fall, he received an honorable mention in an international composing competition, competing against experienced professionals.
The Haifa Music Center’s fourth annual Haifa International Flute Competition for Composers was open to composers of all ages and nationalities who submitted an unpublished score for a solo flute and string orchestra. The competition, sponsored by the Israeli Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Haifa Municipality, the Reuben and Edith Hecht Trust, and the Marc Rich Foundation, awarded one Haifa Prize and two honorable mentions on November 16.
Of the 11 finalists, Buch was notable for being the only one from the United States and for being younger than the Haifa Prize winner and the other honorable mention winner by nearly 30 years.
“I enter competitions just to get my music out there and for the judges to see my name and see how it relates to my music,” he says. “I always try to challenge myself with really prestigious competitions.” Buch wrote the award-winning piece, “Arrows from a Bow of Burning Gold,” last summer specifically for the competition; it took him about two months.
Buch is a three-time winner of the Music Teachers National Association Student Composition Competition. His music has been performed in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Rebecca McNamara can be reached at ramc@bu.edu.