Long Biography

In 1993 Leone Buyse relinquished her position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra to pursue a more active teaching and solo career after 22 years as an orchestral musician. Acting principal flutist of the BSO during her last three years in Boston, she was invited by Seiji Ozawa to join the orchestra in 1983 as assistant principal flutist and principal flutist of the Boston Pops. Previously she served as Assistant Principal Flute of the San Francisco Symphony and played Solo Piccolo and Second Flute with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

The only American finalist in the 1969 Geneva International Flute Competition, Ms. Buyse has appeared as soloist with l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico City, the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, the San Francisco Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Xalapa Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, and the New Hampshire Music Festival, of which she was principal flutist for ten years. She has performed with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players throughout Europe and Japan, with the Tokyo, Juilliard, Brentano, and Muir String Quartets, the Boston Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, and in recital with Jessye Norman and Yo-Yo Ma. Ms. Buyse has also been a guest artist on the National Arts Centre Orchestra's chamber series in Ottawa. Summer festival appearances include Aspen, Sarasota, Norfolk, Music Academy of the West, Orcas Island, Domaine Forget (Quebec), Sitka, Maui, Steamboat Springs, Park City (Utah), Panoramic Flutist, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Ithaca Flute Institute, Aria International Academy, and Flauti al Castello (Tuscany). Since 2005 she has served as flute coach for the Orchestra of the Americas, working in Poland, Estonia, Belgium, and throughout the North and South America. With her husband, clarinetist Michael Webster, she performs in the Webster Trio and the Buyse-Webster Duo.

Widely renowned as an educator, Ms. Buyse stepped down from her position as the Mullen Professor of Flute at Rice University in Houston, Texas, in July 2023, having taught at Rice for 26 years. During her career she also taught at the University of Michigan, the New England Conservatory, Boston University, the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and as a visiting associate professor at the Eastman School of Music. Her former students currently hold positions in many major orchestras, including the symphony orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, St. Louis, Houston, Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Omaha; the Minnesota Orchestra, the Colorado Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Singapore Symphony, and the National Taiwan Symphony. Others are professors at such schools as the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Colorado at Boulder, Western Michigan University, Memorial University in Newfoundland, and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Ms. Buyse has presented recitals and master classes at universities, conservatories and festivals across the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Brazil, Chile, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. She may be heard as solo flutist on numerous recordings of the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the San Francisco Symphony for the Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, RCA Victor, and Sony Classical labels. Her solo recordings include four Crystal releases: The Sky's the Limit, Rivier Revisited, Dedicated to Barrère, and Dedicated to Barrère, Volume 2. Boston Records released Contrasts, a disc of American music for flute and harp with Boston Symphony principal harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, and CRI issued her recording of two flute concertos by Richard Toensing with the National Symphony of Ukraine. American Vistas, a CD of American works for voice and flute with soprano Mimmi Fulmer, is available on the Albany Records label, which has also released Music of Martin Amlin for Flute, Clarinet, and Piano. Additionally Ms. Buyse has recorded for the Hyperion, Elektra/Nonesuch, Centaur, Equilibrium, Nami, Camerata Tokyo and Danacord labels. As a member of the Webster Trio she has recorded extensively for Crystal and performed at International Clarinet Society conventions in New Orleans, Washington, Tokyo, Vancouver, Austin, and Porto, Portugal.

A native of Ithaca, New York, Ms. Buyse graduated with distinction from the Eastman School of Music, where she was a student of Joseph Mariano. Awarded a Fulbright grant, she subsequently studied in France and Switzerland with Michel Debost, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Gaston Crunelle,and Marcel Moyse. Also an accomplished pianist, she served for two years as accompanist at Rampal's summer master classes in Nice, France. An active member of the National Flute Association, she has served on the Board of Directors and as program chair for the 1987 convention in St. Louis. She has been a featured performer at NFA conventions in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Columbus, San Diego, Kansas City, Anaheim, Las Vegas, and New Orleans. In 2010 Ms. Buyse received the National Flute Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the flute community worldwide. She maintains a web presence at www.leonebuyse.com.