Dr. James (Jim) Buckland

Guitar, Guitar Class, Guitar Ensemble
Belk Auditorium, room 201
Office Phone: 833-8473
E-mail: jbucklan@presby.edu

James Buckland is Professor of Guitar at Presbyterian College and Converse College in South Carolina. He received his training at the University of Toronto under Eli Kassner, the University of Akron under Steve Aron, and the University of South Carolina under Christopher Berg and Michael Cedric Smith. Jim was the first guitarist to graduate with the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in guitar performance, where his doctoral research on the nineteenth-century terz guitar earned him the Dean's Award for Distinguished Graduate Endeavors. Since graduating in 1998, Jim has specialized in the field of nineteenth-century performance practice.

Dr. Buckland recently premiered his reconstruction of Mauro Giuliani's second concerto Op.36, a lost version featuring the terz guitar and string orchestra, with Sinfonia de Camera conducted by Ian Hobson. The performance was featured in a broadcast on Illinois Public Radio. Jim has since performed the work numerous times with various orchestras.

On a recent trip to Italy, Jim conducted post-doctoral research on nineteenth-century performance practice in cooperation with Paolo Pugliese, Claudio Maccari and the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan. In addition, Jim is co-founder of Ludlamshohle, a chamber ensemble dedicated to nineteenth-century music.

Dr. Buckland is not only a performer and educator, but also a luthier. He builds in the nineteenth-century style, using original tools and techniques, following the work of Guadagnini, Fabricatore, and Stauffer.

In demand as a conference lecturer, Jim has presented at several prestigious events including the Guitar Foundation of America Convention in 1999 (History, Literature & Performance Practice of the Terz Guitar) and 2005 (Re-Construction of a Lost Concerto by Mauro Giuliani), and the 2003 Symposium on the Guitar and Improvisation (Nineteenth-Century Improvisation: Practice & the Guitar) at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

A recent CD, "Sonatas and Fantasies for Guitar" has won critical acclaim ...."a rare and exceptional recording....very operatic influence with blistering arpeggios and cadenzas. Top notch. Highly recommended." EarlyRomanticGuitar.