ACME Spotlight: Meet Leone Buyse

MEET ACME HONOREE Leone Buyse

One of the most highly regarded American flutists of her generation, Leone Buyse, Mu Upsilon, has pursued a multidimensional career as a performer, recording artist, educator, and speaker. In 1993, she relinquished her principal positions with the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops to pursue a more active solo and teaching career after 22 years as an orchestral musician. A former member of the San Francisco Symphony and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, she has appeared as soloist on numerous occasions with those orchestras and also with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the Utah Symphony, the Xalapa Symphony, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional of Mexico City in Palacio de Bellas Artes, and l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players throughout Europe and Japan, with the Tokyo, Juilliard, Brentano, and Muir String Quartets, in recital with Jessye Norman and Yo-Yo Ma, and at many festivals, including Aspen, Sarasota, Norfolk, and Domaine Forget.

As the winner of the Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition in 1970 and the only American prizewinner in the 1969 Geneva International Flute Competition, Ms. Buyse has presented recitals and master classes across the United States and in Canada, Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Her solo recordings have appeared on the Crystal, Boston Records, Albany, and C.R.I. labels and she may be heard as solo flutist on recordings of the

Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the San Francisco Symphony for the Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, and Sony Classical labels. With her husband, clarinetist Michael Webster, she co-founded the Webster Trio, which has recorded for Crystal Records and for the Japanese labels Camerata Tokyo and Nami.

Ms. Buyse is the Mullen Professor of Flute at Rice University in Houston, Texas, and has also taught at the University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, and as a visiting professor at the Eastman School of Music. Her former students hold positions at major universities and in many major orchestras, including the symphony orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, Houston, St. Louis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Toronto; the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

Also an accomplished pianist, Ms. Buyse served for two years as a collaborative pianist at Jean-Pierre Rampal’s summer flute master classes in Nice, France. An active member of the National Flute Association, she has been a featured performer at annual conventions in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Columbus, Kansas City, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Anaheim, Orlando, San Diego, Orlando, and Salt Lake City. In August 2010, she received the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the flute community worldwide at the 38th annual convention in Anaheim, California. Ms. Buyse maintains a web presence at www.leonebuyse.com.

How old were you when you started playing the flute, and how did you chose the instrument?

As a nine-year-old growing up in Ithaca, New York, I attended a summer day camp that offered instruction in music and sports. I absolutely adored learning how to twirl a baton — a silvery, cylindrical object — so perhaps it’s not surprising that I chose to join the beginners’ flute class! My two classmates were quickly able to produce a tone, but after a week I was still having no luck. Fortunately, an older cousin was living with us that summer and encouraged me to keep trying. After the second week, I found my sound and a few weeks later was chosen to play a solo (“Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”!) on the end-of-camp recital. So in a sense, I owe my entire career to my cousin Patty!

At what point did you know you wanted to play professionally? How did you approach attaining this goal?

Throughout junior and senior high school, I was lucky to study privately with David Berman, at that time the flute professor at Ithaca College. He was a great musician and teacher, as were my high school band director, Frank Battisti (later founder of the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble), and my choir director, Vito Mason. These three inspirational mentors encouraged me to consider a professional career in music, so by the time I was 16, I had decided to apply to the Eastman School of Music, where I later studied with the legendary Joseph Mariano.

SPRING 2020 I thetriangle 9 Tell us a favorite memory from your time as a principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

I was on tour with the Boston Symphony in 1991. During our two concerts in Athens, Greece, at the Odeon of Herodus Atticus (built 161 A.D.), we performed Bizet’s Symphonie Fantastique and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra — two works with the most remarkably imaginative orchestration a musician could ever wish to hear or play. I looked up from my chair, saw the Acropolis illuminated above us, and remembered that 22 years earlier, I had climbed that world monument in the moonlight and looked down at the theater where I was now performing. I never could have guessed that two decades later, as a Paris-based student visiting Greece for the first time, I

would be playing principal flute in a great orchestra in that extraordinary setting.

What does it take to be a successful orchestra musician?

Aside from excellent intonation, rhythm, articulation, and technical skills, an orchestral musician needs to possess flexibility and be able to respond quickly to whatever is happening musically. Conductors may ask a musician to play a passage very differently, or a colleague may have an unexpected problem with pitch. No matter what the issue, staying alert, engaged in the music, and willing to adjust at any moment are essential professional skills in an orchestral career. Being a supportive member of your section is also extremely important.

How do you suggest preparing for auditions? Know the context for each and every excerpt that appears on the audition list and present each style with conviction. Committees can tell immediately if candidates have learned just their own part or if they are bringing the entire orchestra onstage mentally to join in making music during the audition.

As a soloist, how do you connect with the audience?

Sharing a personal commitment to the music I’m performing has always helped me to communicate well with audiences. Whether playing Bach’s Suite in B minor, a Mozart concerto, or Pierre Boulez’s Mémoriale from explosante-fixe, I always prepare in such a way that once I’m onstage, listeners will be excited by the musical message.

You and your husband play chamber music together. What is that like?

For us, it has always been easy since we respect each other so highly. I feel extremely fortunate to have a life partner who is both a wonderful clarinetist and a gifted arranger. Over the past four decades, our mission has been to enlarge the repertoire for flute, clarinet, and piano. The Webster Trio’s recorded repertoire includes commissioned works and Michael’s transcriptions of orchestral music, operas, and iconic music for piano four-hands, published by Theodore Presser and International Music Company.

Do you experience performance anxiety? Do you have strategies you can recommend for dealing with nerves?

I actually worry if I don’t feel nervous! The adrenalin that I feel prior to a big performance helps me to focus on the job at hand, and I often visualize for days (or sometimes weeks) ahead of time how I will feel prior to the concert. The most important strategy for any performer is to acknowledge that you cannot control what any listener will think of you, but you can control your preparation. Being well prepared is the best way I know to avoid debilitating performance anxiety, so I always try to allow adequate time to learn a new work or to get re-acquainted with a work I’ve performed before.

How has Mu Phi Epsilon helped your career? The foundational elements of Mu Phi — Music, Friends, and Harmony — have provided the basis for many meaningful, long lasting relationships within our profession. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to begin building strong connections in my late teens as a member of the Mu Upsilon chapter at the Eastman School of Music. A few years later, as a 1970 winner of the International Competition, I found myself touring the country to perform recitals sponsored by collegiate and alumni. Quickly I learned how to make genuine connections with my hosts and sponsoring chapter — an important skill that has served me well throughout my career. I will always be grateful to Mu Phi for the support that I received as an IC winner and as a member of welcoming alumni groups in different regions of our country.

What do you love about teaching? It’s always a joy to watch a student suddenly make a discovery or understand a concept for the first time. Equally satisfying is seeing a student develop musicianship and analytical skills during our time together and then go on to find personal happiness and a fulfilling career — whether in music or another field.

What are some of your hobbies? Languages! I speak and write French, Dutch, German, Spanish, and some Japanese and Italian, and can read a bit of Portuguese. I also love working with plants and enjoy being able to grow attractive tropical varieties on our deck in Houston’s warm climate.

ACME Nominations ACME recognition highlights the strengths and accomplishments of our fraternity’s Artists, Composers, Musicologists and Educators. We encourage members to nominate deserving, actively affiliated candidates who have achieved national and/or international acclaim in their music fields for ACME consideration. Nomination information is at muphiepsilon.org (click About, Honors & Awards, ACME).