Meet Our New Music Director William Buthod

My Dear Parishioners:

I am pleased to announce that Mr. William Buthod has accepted my offer to return to Tulsa and become our Music Director & Organist. Here is a little something about William.

William Buthod, pianist, conductor, composer, and teacher, began performing as a classical pianist, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. William was raised at Christ the King Parish and attended Booker T. Washington High School. In 1994, he won the Tulsa Young Pianist competition. In 1997 he won the Tulsa Young Artist competition, which gave him the opportunity to debut as a soloist with the Tulsa Philharmonic. He formed a piano trio which performed jazz around Oklahoma and opened for the Count Basie Orchestra in 1998. That same year Buthod won first place in the Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition in Connecticut.

William attended Hunter College in New York City where he earned a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in music and continued to work as a keyboard player, church musician and composer. He performed concerts in the Tri-State area, where he was featured in the American Guild of Organist magazine and appeared on a Master’s series video, released by AGO.

An avid composer, William's first major work “Mass in Dialogue” was premiered in 2000 by a touring choir. In 2005 he presented “Inner Works”, a concert of all original compositions of many styles. He has written over 300 pieces to date, from R&B tunes to classical trios. William won several scholarships for compositions, including one from the Manhattan School of Music.

He performed as keyboardist for several bands, making himself at home with varied styles from Country to Latin, from Broadway to Hip-Hop. He has performed with or recorded for such artists as Jimmy Heath, Denyce Graves, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Mashonda, Maiysha, and Autumn. His jazz trio performs around New York in clubs and concert series, even at the Blue Note! In addition, he became involved in the New York gospel music scene, playing in churches in Harlem, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and earned a place as pianist for the Harlem Gospel Choir.

After graduating from college, William took a position at the American Cathedral in Paris. He served as the pianist for the U.S. Ambassador to France, presenting private concerts of American music for foreign dignitaries. He was accepted into a music diploma program at Paris Conservatory. In 2005 one of his works for choir and soloists was premiered at the historic Theatre des Champs-Elysees. Most of his time in Paris was divided between playing and composing for church, and teaching and coaching at vocal and instrumental studios.

He moved back to New York City in 2006 and served as Artist-in Residence at the Church of the Holy Trinity in NYC. He is currently Minister of Music at Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Brooklyn, Organist at the Bronx Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and Director of the Chorus of Communities in New Jersey. He also teaches privately out of his studio in Manhattan.

William will begin his employment here on July 1^st. I want to thank the members of this Search Committee who worked with me for the last several months: Fr. Gary Kastl, Cindy Spitza, Diane Erbacher, Dottie Wilson, Jessalynn McCoin, Ron Pearson, and Steve Lusk.

Yours in Christ,

Monsignor Dennis C. Dorney