Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
Clear Lake High School is located in Houston, Texas near the Johnson Space Center (NASA). Under the direction of Mr. Bryan Buffaloe and Mr. Kevin Black, the orchestra program has grown to over 200 string students placed in one of five different performing ensembles that meet on a daily basis. In addition, the full symphony orchestra meets once a week combining the top two string orchestras with the top players from the Wind Ensemble. The orchestras at Clear Lake have consistently ranked as a finalist each year in the TMEA Honor Orchestra Competition in both string and full orchestra. Over the years, the program has produced numerous All-Region and All-State level performers and many of the students go on to attend colleges such as Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Rice, John Hopkins and UT Austin. The Clear Lake High School orchestra has had a tradition of excellence. The Music Department has been recognized several times as a GRAMMY Signature School by the GRAMMY Foundation and all orchestras have earned consistent UIL sweepstakes awards. In 2006, the orchestra performed for the Chinese New Year World Global Gala sponsored by New Tang Dynasty Television and was broadcast world-wide. They have performed in the National Band and Orchestra Invitational held in Carnegie Hall, the Circle of Honor series in Chicago at Symphony Hall, and have been named Grand Champions several times at the Festival Disney Honors. The Symphony Orchestra was named the Texas State Honor Full Orchestra in 1991,2011, 2013, and the Chamber Orchestra was named the TMEA State Honor String Orchestra in 2014. The Clear Lake High School Symphony was named Grand Champions at the prestigious National Orchestra Gold Cup competition in 2013 and 2017. They are honored to be performing at this the Midwest Clinic in 2018
Clear Lake High School Chamber Orchestra
Conductor's Bio
Bryan Buffaloe currently serves as Director of Orchestras at Clear Lake High School. Under his direction the orchestras have received consistent superior ratings at UIL contests and have earned Best in Class and Overall Outstanding Orchestra Honors at South Coast, DC Music Festivals and Music-fest Orlando. They have been named as a GRAMMY Signature School by the GRAMMY Foundation two times and in 2013 and 2017, were named National Champions at the prestigious National Orchestra Gold Cup competition in New York City at Alice Tully Hall. Under his direction, the Clear Lake Orchestras have consistently ranked as a top three finalist in the TMEA State Honor Orchestra competition in both full and string orchestra and also place a large number of students in the TMEA All-Region and All-State Orchestras. In 2011 and 2013 the Symphony Orchestra was named the TMEA State Honor Full Orchestra of Texas and the TMEA State Honor String Orchestra in 2014.
Mr. Buffaloe is a graduate of Sam Houston State University where he was a member of the Symphony Orchestra, University Chorale and Symphonic Choir. Prior to coming to Clear Lake, He served as orchestra director at Klein Forest High School where he was named Outstanding Fine Arts Teacher in 2002, Teacher of the Year in 2003, and the Music Department was named the 2003 National Signature School by the GRAMMY Foundation. Mr. Buffaloe's orchestras have performed at the Southern Music Conference in Atlanta, Georgia and the American Honor Orchestra Conference in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as well as the National Band and Orchestra Invitational in New York City at Carnegie Hall in 2001 and 2006. In 2010 his orchestra performed in the Circle of Honor Invitational at Symphony Hall in Chicago and have been named the Grand Champion Orchestra at Festival Disney Honors in 2003, 2008 and 2011.
In addition to his teaching, Mr. Buffaloe is active as a clinician and adjudicator having conducted numerous all-region orchestras, the Myrtle Beach All-County Orchestra and the South Carolina All-State Philharmonic in 2006 and again in 2015. He is a past conductor of the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra Philharmonic and is the founder, and former director, of the Bay Area Youth Symphony. For six years he was the production manager and board member of the Austrian Alps Performing Arts Festival held in Innsbruk and Salzburg, Austria. Mr. Buffaloe has served as Orchestra Vice-President of Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Texas Music Education Association Region 17 Secretary, State Music Advisory Committee Chair and is a Past-President of the Texas Orchestra Director's Association. Mr. Buffaloe is also the manager of the Sam Houston State University Summer Orchestra camps and has served as an instructor at the camps for the past 23 years. He has been named many times to Who's Who Among America's Teachers and was the 2003 recipient of the Marjorie Keller Teacher Award presented by the Texas Chapter of the American String Teachers Association. In 2008, Mr. Buffaloe received the Fidelity Future Stage Award as an Outstanding Music Educator and Music Advocate for the city of Houston presented by the Houston Symphony. In 2015, Bryan received the prestigious UIL Sponsors Excellence Award from the University Interscholastic League of Texas and was the 2016 Clear Lake High School Teacher of the Year. He has performed as a soloist at the American Choral Directors Association convention in Carnegie Hall and as an accomplished “fiddler”, has performed across the US and won several fiddling championships. Mr. Buffaloe has presented workshops for both the TODA and TMEA conferences, the Ohio State String Teachers Workshop and has served as a guest leader of professional development workshops for school districts around the state of Texas. Bryan's professional memberships include TMEA, TODA, TMAA, ASTA and Mu Omicron.
Bryan enjoys singing and is currently serving as the worship leader at First Baptist Church of Deer Park. He is married to Anita Ladd-Buffaloe, a choir director at Deer Park High School and has three awesome children Brendon, Braden and Brynlee.
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