Trumpet
Musician First Class Chris Buchanan hails from Fairfax, Virginia, where he attended James W. Robinson High School. In 2006, he graduated summa cum laude with Bachelor of Music degrees in both trumpet and composition from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He also earned a Master of Music degree from Illinois in 2007. Currently, MU1 Buchanan is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he specializes in renaissance and baroque performance. His teachers have included Michael Ewald, Ronald Romm, Ed Hoffman and Joe Burgstaller.
MU1 Buchanan was featured as soloist and guest clinician at Northern Illinois University and has extensive performing and teaching experience. He has performed with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, Danville Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia da Camera, Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana, and the Avanti Orchestra.
In 2007, MU1 Buchanan auditioned and was selected for assignment to the U.S. Naval Academy Band. Following recruit training at RTC, Great Lakes, he reported for duty as trumpeter with the wind ensemble, marching band, brass quintet, and ceremonial units. He serves as Auditions Assistant, and is frequently called upon both to arrange for and to solo with the wind ensemble.
MU1 Buchanan has been awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Navy Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal and the Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon.