About The Director
Starting in 2004, Greg Brucker spent his career
educating youth musicians and conducting orchestras. After earning a
Bachelor’s Degree in Music from UC Davis in 2001, he earned a Master’s Degree
in Education and a Teaching Credential from the University of Phoenix in 2007.
Starting in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Brucker assumed the directorship of the Harper
Jr. High and Emerson Jr. High Orchestras in Davis, Ca. Since its inception in
2007, Mr. Brucker has been the conductor of the Vivace Strings Orchestra of the
Sacramento Youth Symphony and Academy of Music. For several years, he also worked
as the primary brass, woodwind, and percussion sectional coach for the SYS’s Academic
Symphony. Mr. Brucker also co-taught the Chamber and Symphony Orchestras at
Davis Senior High School between 2007 and 2009, with duties including low
strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion sectional director. Under a shared
baton as junior high orchestra director in Davis, his Davis Combined Jr. High
Advanced Orchestra was accepted into the ASTA National Orchestra Festival in Spring
of 2010. That year, they were also named Best Jr. High Orchestra from Downbeat
Magazine.
From 2010-2022, Mr. Brucker directed The Emerson,
Da Vinci & Harper Combined Jr. High Orchestra Program in Davis, Ca. The
Advanced Orchestra was thrice accepted into, and twice earned Unanimous
Superior Ratings at California Music Educators Association’s All State Band and
Orchestra Festival (2013, 2014, and 2016). In 2012, Mr. Brucker was selected as
CMEA-Capitol Section Honors Orchestra Conductor for the Middle School Orchestra.
His involvement continued until 2018 as the organizer of the regional Honors
Orchestras. In January of 2022, Mr. Brucker began studies toward a Master’s
Degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Sacramento State School of Music, under
the guidance of Maestro Ryan Murray. Starting summer 2022, Mr. Brucker began
studying voice and vocal pedagogy with San Francisco Conservatory Vocal
Pedagogy Professor Rebecca Plack. In Fall 2022, Mr. Brucker began his next
chapter as new music director of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper Junior High
School in Davis, California.
As a performing musician, Mr. Brucker has been the Principal
Double Bass for The Folsom Lake Symphony since 2010, is a regular substitute
bassist for the Stockton Symphony. He has also performed with the Merced, Apollo,
and Solano Symphonies, alongside many community orchestras in the Sacramento
Valley. He also runs the Davis Bass Studio, open since 2004, boasting former double
bass students’ acceptance into conservatories around the United States and
Europe. As well, Mr. Brucker spent six years studying trombone, five years
studying and performing baroque music with the UC Davis Baroque Ensemble under
baroque violin master Michael Sand and harpsichordist Phebe Craig, and spent five
years studying and performing avant-garde and improvisatory jazz with saxophone
great John Tchicai. In 2010, he performed with avant-garde folk recording
artist Jandek and has joined many local jazz and rock musicians in different
groups over the last 20 years.
Mr. Brucker has dedicated time to ensure passage of every Davis Schools
Parcel Tax campaign effort since 2007, continuing access to music education. As
a tribute to his passionate advocacy for arts education funding that continues
today, Mr. Brucker was recognized as a “Forward Thinker” by the organization
California Forward, in 2012, for his efforts to preserve music and arts
education in public schools during a time of statewide financial crisis. In
2013, Mr. Brucker received the Hal Reid Faculty award from the Emerson Jr. High
PTA and greater community for his greater work in educational advocacy and for
“demonstrating leadership in a
variety of areas and show extraordinary dedication to their school and students.” In Spring of 2023, Mr. Brucker received the "Outstanding Orchestral Educator" Award from the California Music Educators Association Capitol Section. From 2011–2017 and 2020–22, he served as a Davis Teachers Association Site
Representative at Harper and Emerson Jr. High Schools, respectively.
Mr. Brucker, wife, Laura, and their two children, currently reside in Davis,
California.