Dover Symphony Orchestra's Musical Director/Conductor, Mr. Donald Buxton

An Ohio native, Mr. Donald Buxton studied the piano and violin simultaneously, but his talent at the piano brought him recognition at an early age.

Mr. Buxton did his undergraduate work at Wilmington College in Ohio. After his opportunities to conduct at the undergraduate level, Mr. Buxton’s love of orchestral music and conducting took him to the Conservatories at the University of Cincinnati and Juilliard for advanced studies in conducting.

Mr. Buxton moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1984 and currently resides with his wife and two children in Royal Oak, near St. Michaels. Mr. Buxton, along with Marcy Rosen (cellist, Mendelssohn String Quartet) and J. Lawrie Bloom (clarinetist, Chicago Symphony) founded the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival in 1986 and currently serves as its Executive Director. The Festival has enjoyed national acclaim as one of the eminent chamber music festivals on the East Coast. His work with the Festival has brought him in close association with today’s brightest talents such as the Mendelssohn String Quartet and members of the major orchestras of the United States and abroad such as the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Minneapolis Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble and the Rotterdam Symphony. Mr. Buxton serves, and continues to serve, on numerous non profit arts boards, the Talbot County Arts Council, and as a performing arts panelist on the Maryland State Arts Council.

Mr. Buxton performs frequently as a soloist, freelances with orchestras on the Eastern and Western Shores of Maryland, and with the Miles Quartet of which he is a founding member. He is often sought as a guest speaker, guest conductor and as a clinician/presenter at professional organizations at the national level. He was the Associate conductor of the Talbot Chamber Orchestra in the mid 1980s before assuming the position of Music Director of the Dover Symphony in 1989, a post he still holds. He was the founding Artistic Director/Conductor of the Mid Atlantic Symphony from 1997 to 2005. He frequently serves as guest conductors to various orchestras throughout the United States, focusing primarily on orchestras in the Mid West where he feels his “roots” are based. Mr. Buxton is also currently on faculty at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.

Working with young people has always been a special love for Mr. Buxton. Through the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival, the Dover Symphony and the Mid Atlantic Symphony, he has developed family concerts, education programs and free events for children to expose them to the riches of classical music. Mr. Buxton teaches chamber ensemble music as a resident clinician for St. Michaels High School in St. Michaels, Maryland. In 2004, the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival launched the Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition which is held every two years and now enjoys an international reputation and recognition. The competition is designed to assist emerging artists in launching their careers through cash prizes and performance opportunities. Most recently, the Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival launched a new “Youth Initiative” which teaches ten free violin lessons to third grade students followed up by after school string programs. Mr. Buxton, along with his wife Merideth, also teach privately in their studios in Royal Oak, Maryland.

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