Jules Buckley

Buckley was born and grew up in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in the UK.[1] He is the son of Keith Buckley (a doctor) and Joan Buckley, and attended Aylesbury Grammar School. Buckley started playing the trumpet aged 9 at the Aylesbury Music Centre.[2] He played in the Aylesbury Music Centre Dance Band and went on to study trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music in London before changing to classical composition.[3] His initial ambition was to be a jazz trumpeter, but at the Guildhall School his interests grew to include musical composition and conducting. He now lives in Berlin, Germany.

In 2004, Buckley and producer/manager Chris Wheeler co-founded the Heritage Orchestra, with the intention of featuring an orchestra in a music club setting. In 2008, Buckley became principal guest conductor of the Metropole Orkest, a jazz and eclectic music orchestra based in Hilversum, and chief conductor from 2013. In 2020, he became Creative Artist-in-Residence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and stood in as presenter of the BBC Radio 3 programme Classical Fix, in place of Clemency Burton-Hill,[4] who suffered a brain haemorrhage in January 2020.[5]

Buckley has worked with the WDR Big Band; José James and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Patrick Watson and the Orchestre National d'Île de France; and arranged and conducted Caro Emerald's album The Shocking Miss Emerald and Jacob Collier's album Djesse Vol. 1. Other collaborations have included projects with Gregory Porter; Tori Amos; Markus Stockhausen; Michael Kiwanuka; Jonathan Jeremiah; Basement Jaxx; Massive Attack; Arctic Monkeys; John Cale; Paul Weller; Emeli Sandé; The Cinematic Orchestra; Jamie Cullum; Beardyman; Cory Henry ; Snarky Puppy; Becca Stevens; Andrea Motis and Dizzee Rascal.

In February 2016, the Snarky Puppy album Sylva, featuring Buckley and the Metropole Orkest, won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.[6] At the end of 2016, Classic House with Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra reached No. 1 in the Album Charts. In 2020, the song "All night long" by Jacob Collier, featuring Take 6 and the Metropole Orkest, won an award for the "Best arrangement, instrumental and vocal" at the 62nd Grammy Awards.[6]

In 2018, Buckley and Metropole Orkest were awarded the Bremer Musikfest-Preis in special recognition of their contribution to the success of Musikfest Bremen.

August 2016: BBC Prom 49 with the Metropole Orkest, celebrating the music of Quincy Jones.

February 2017: conducted the National Symphony Orchestra with Snarky Puppy at the Kennedy Center, Washington DC.

August 2018: Returned to the BBC Proms with the Heritage Orchestra for a late-night Prom "New York Now", celebrating the changing soundscape of New York and featuring artists from that city, including Hercules and Love Affair.

June 2019: "Soundtrack of the 80s with Quincy Jones" with the Metropole Orkest at London's O2 arena.

August 2019: BBC Prom 45 with the Metropole Orkest in a homage to Nina Simone, with Ledisi and Lisa Fischer to a packed Royal Albert Hall.

September 2019: BBC Prom 64 with the Heritage Orchestra and Soul Mavericks, featuring Terra & Eddie, Sunni and Lagaet, at the Royal Albert Hall.

February 2020: Seattle Symphony Orchestra, "The Best of Quincy Jones", at Benaroya Hall, Seattle.

February 2020: BBC Symphony Orchestra, featuring Lianne La Havas, at the Barbican Hall, London.

August 2021: The Proms, BBC Symphony Orchestra, featuring Moses Sumney.[7]

• Metropole Orkest page on Jules Buckley
• Information about Jules Buckley on Serious News
• Homepage of the Heritage Orchestra
• A.P. Childs, 'Orchestra man and popster Jules Buckley on Holland’s Cross-Linx festival & more'. Art Rocker, 15 April 2015