David Buley received the Joan Mantle Music Trust Community Award for his contributions to music and education at the International Dinner and Silent Auction in support of the Trust April 9.
“Buley shares Joan Mantle’s passion for music education for all ages,” said Ralph McIntosh, Chair of the Joan Mantle Music Trust Steering Committee, in a press release.
“He has had a positive impact on music in the community, promotes lifelong music education and serves as an inspiration to others through his musical contributions and accomplishments in the community. He is most deserving of the Joan Mantle Music Trust Community Award.”
Buley said he was humbled to receive the honour.
“I am humbled because I know that in all of the music that I am fortunate enough to have made, and will continue to make, there is a wide array of others that are necessary for that music to occur,” he said.
An Associate Professor of Music Education at Laurentian University, Buley established Young Sudbury Singers in 2007, an award-winning choir for children and youth from across the Greater Sudbury area. As director, Buley provides a high level of training to choir members with impressive results.
Buley is also the founding director of the a cappella choral ensemble Octatonic Decadence. Formed in 2010, Octatonic Decadence achieved first place standing in the Canadian National Music Festival in the choral ensemble category. The group’s membership fluctuates according to the voices needed for the wide array of music the group performs.
Another passion Buley shares is his interest in music in the environment, organizing outdoor dawn and dusk concerts on Lake Nepahwin and in the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area.
As an educator, Buley not only shares his passion for music at the post-secondary level, he also offers professional learning for elementary and secondary teachers to inspire a love of music in students of all ages.
The Joan Mantle Music Trust was established in the fall of 2008 to help refresh, modernize and revitalize school music programs in the Rainbow District School Board.
