BIOGRAPHY

Michael Buchanan (b. 1993) is considered one of the finest players of his generation. At the age of 22 he was awarded the first prize and audience prize at the 2015 Munich ARD International Music Competition, only the second trombone player in the history of the competition to do so and to date the only British musician. This launched a solo career, leading to accolades such as the 2017 BMW- Publikumspreis at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommen, an official “debut” concert together with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in the Berlin Philharmonie, and a debut at the Lucerne Festival. After initiating a complete career-hiatus from September 2017 to December 2018 in order to further develop, Michael returned to the stage in January 2019. His first public performance led him to be awarded the 2019 Fanny Mendelssohn Fönderpreis, resulting in a CD production to be released in October 2019.

As concerto soloist, Michael has performed with orchestras such as the Symphonie-orchester des Bayerisches Rundfunk, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin. As a recitalist, he has performed at the BeethovenFest Bonn, the Festspiele Mecklenburg Vorpommerln, The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Frauenkirche in Dresden, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Schloss Elmau, and the Lucerne Festival.

Equally active as an orchestral musician, in 2016 he joined the Philharmonic and Orchestras in a contract position for the 16-17 season, undergoing multiple tours as principal (solo) trombone. He is also a hand-selected principal player of Seiji Osawa’s Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan. As a freelancer based in London, he frequently performs as principal trombone with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the London Sinfonietta. Michael received his school education at Wells Cathedral School, a specialist music school in the UK, where he studied with the renowned trombone pedagogue Alan Hutt. In 2014 he graduated with 1st Class Honours in an academic music degree from the University of Cambridge (Clare College). He completed his Masters in trombone performance under the tutelage of Ian Bousfield, at the Hochschule der Künste, Bern, Switzerland, in 2016.