Musician. Teacher.
Mykia Buford is an oboe and english horn player from Stafford, VA, participating in Bachelors of Music Education at George Mason University after transferring from East Carolina University and West Virginia University working towards the same degree.
She has been performing since a young age, beginning on piano and flute, and was switched to oboe in 2014 during her first year in high school. Mykia’s senior year of high school at Charles J. Colgan High School she studied under Laurel Siberts, a prominent double reed instructor in Northern VA, making second in All-County, principal in All-District and twelfth oboe in the state of Virginia during All-State auditions.
Mykia has studied oboe under Bo Newsome M.A. at ECU, Cynthia Anderson M.A at WVU, and most recently with Emily Foster at George Mason University. She has played a range of classical works from Bach and Tchaikovsky to more contemporary works by Julie Giroux and David Biedenbender. Ms. Buford has played in multiple ensembles at George Mason under directors Dr. William Lake of the Wind Symphony and Dr. Soo Han of the Symphony Orchestra as principal oboist.
Mykia Buford has had the opportunity to play riveting solo works such as Hayden’s Oboe Concerto in C Major, Marcello's Oboe Concerto in D minor, Mozart’s Oboe Quartet. Most recently she has performed Alyssa Morris' Chrysalis for english horn and piano and Ralph Vaughn William's Oboe Concerto. Her orchestral repertoire extends from Beethoveen’s Symphony No 5 with East Carolina University’s Symphony Orchestra under Dr. Jorge Richter, A Pastoral Symphony by Ralph Vaughn Williams under Dr. Mitchell Arnold at West Virginia University, to Tchiakovsky's Symphony No.5 under Dr. Soo Han at George Mason. Arguably her most significant performance was a piece by Florence B. Price (1887-1953) transcribed for Symphonic Band by Dr. Cheldon Williams, as Ms. Buford played principal on the historic work lost through time by the first Black female composer to premiere a full-length work with a major symphony like the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
She has been a recipient of the Friends of Music Scholarship from George Mason since 2023. She received previously the WVU Canady School of Creative Arts Scholarship from 2020-2022 and the Friends of the School of Music Scholarship while studying at East Carolina University from 2018-2019.
