Diedre Buckley's career spans study and performance in California and three decades with the WCO
Diedre Buckley has been a member of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra since 1992. A professional musician and artist-teacher, she has extensive experience performing in many settings, including solo, chamber music, orchestra, ballet, opera, light opera, commercial music, and alternative styles. In addition to her performing with the orchestra, she has been an important contributor to the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s educational programs.
Also a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra, she was principal violist of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra and has performed with other Wisconsin ensembles, including the Green Bay Symphony, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Music Fix, and the Madison Jazz Orchestra. Her extensive experience in chamber music includes two recordings for the Albany label with the Ad Hoc String Quartet. A native of California, she has performed with the Long Beach, Sacramento, Oakland-East Bay and Carson-Dominguez Hills Symphonies, the Carmel Bach Festival, Mozart Camerata, Baroque Consortium, Long Beach Civic Light Opera, Long Beach and North Coast Operas, and the Long Beach and Oakland Ballets.
Diedre has performed with such celebrities as Tony Bennett, Liberace, Sammy Davis, Jr., Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor, Red Skelton, and the Mantovani Strings, and in such productions as the North American premiere of Szymanowski’s King Roger and the first major revival of Jonny Spielt Auf, both with Long Beach Opera and the West Coast premier of Sunday in the Park with George with Long Beach Civic Light Opera.
She has performed at the National Women’s Music Festival, and at the Isthmus Jazz Festival with Hanah Jon Taylor, Jane Reynolds, and the Madison Jazz Orchestra. Her original compositions have been used by Tap It/Newworks and can be heard on the Madison Music Collective album Gathering. Dr. Buckley’s dissertation was a transcription and analysis of the music of the jazz singer, Betty Carter.
She received her doctoral degree in viola performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was a member of the Strelow String Quartet and served as teaching assistant to Sally Chisholm. She graduated summa cum laude from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and after one semester at the University of Southern California, she earned her master’s degree at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
