Introduction
BAYS is a non-profit, 501 (3) c organization which provides students across the Southeast Houston area an opportunity to perform in a high level musical ensemble, while enriching their musical education.  Our ambition is to provide the talented students of our communities, the opportunity to become involved in a youth organization that will not only achieve musical excellence, but will also bring forth an appreciation and support for the arts in the greater Houston area.

The Bay Area Youth Symphony Offers:

• A supplement to the student's school music program
• Excellent instruction from professional conductors and section coaches
• An exciting collaboration of advanced and dedicated student musicians from across Southeast Houstonarea
• Performances in high quality concert venues
• A wide range of repertoire from different periods and styles of music

Executive Director/Symphony Conductor - Bryan Buffaloe
Bryan Buffaloe currently serves as the director of orchestras at Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas home to NASA. Under his direction, the “Lake” Orchestra has grown to its present enrollment of 255 members. They have received consistent UIL “Sweepstakes” awards and have earned Best in Class and Overall Outstanding Orchestra Honors at South Coast and DC Music Festivals. They have been named as a GRAMMY Signature School by the GRAMMY Foundation and performed at the National Band and Orchestra Invitational in Carnegie Hall. Under his direction, the Clear Lake Orchestras consistently rank among the top orchestras in Texas having received first runner-up in the TMEA State Honor String Orchestra competition and second-runner up in the full orchestra state competition.

Mr. Buffaloe, a native of Wichita Falls, Texas, is a graduate of Sam Houston State University were he was a member of the Symphony Orchestra, University Chorale and Symphonic Choir. In previous years, Bryan served six years as orchestra director at Klein Forest High School where he was named Teacher of the Year in 2003 and the music department was named the 2003 National Signature School by the GRAMMY Foundation. He also served two years as assistant orchestra director at Stratford High School and was a founding teacher of the youth orchestras and public school string program in Conroe ISD. Mr. Buffaloe’s Orchestras have performed at the Southern Music Conference in Atlanta, Georgia and the American Honor Orchestra Conference in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as well as the National Band and Orchestra Invitational in 2001 and 2006.

In addition to his teaching, Bryan is active as a clinician and adjudicator having conducted fourteen all-region orchestras, the Myrtle Beach All-County Orchestra in 2005 and the South Carolina All-State Philharmonic in 2004. He is past conductor of the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra Philharmonic and now is serving as manager and director of the Bay Area Youth Symphony. Bryan has served as Orchestra Vice-President of Texas Music Adjudicators Association and is currently Vice-President for the executive board of the Texas Orchestra Director’s Association. He served six years as production manager and board member of the Austrian Alps Performing Arts Festival held in Innsbruk, Austria. Mr. Buffaloe is also the manager of the Sam Houston State Summer Orchestra camps and has served as an instructor at the camps for the past thirteen years. He has been named eight times to Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers and was the 2003 recipient of the Marjorie Keller Young Teacher Award presented by the Texas Chapter of ASTA. In 2008, Mr. Buffaloe received the Fidelity Future Stage Award as an Outstanding Music Educator and Music Advocate for the city of Houston presented by the Houston Symphony. He has performed as a soloist with the Deer Park HS Chorale at the American Choral Directors Association convention in Carnegie Hall and as an accomplished “fiddler”, he has performed across the US and has won several fiddling championships.

Bryan enjoys singing and is currently serving as the interim worship leader at his church. He like to travel, spend time with friends and his wife Anita, a choir director at Deer Park HS, and their three beautiful children Brendon, Braden and Brynlee.

Philharmonic Conductor - Lisa Black
Lisa Black has gained a reputation as a creative and dynamic orchestra director in the Houston area. She received her Bachelor of Music Education from the Crane School of Music, State University of New York at Potsdam. During her undergraduate study, she coached high school students’ string quartets at the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs for three years. After completing her degree, she was awarded a full teaching assistantship at Kent State University where she earned a Master degree in Music Education with a concentration in string pedagogy.

Mrs. Black has been teaching in the Houston area, where she has been successful in building programs in the Pasadena, Deer Park, and Clear Creek school districts. Presently, she is the orchestra director at Space Center Intermediate School where she built the program to include approximately 200 students. SCIS has won consecutive UIL sweepstakes, been a finalist in the TMEA Honor Orchestra competition numerous times, and has been invited to perform at the state Capitol in Austin for the “Go Arts Day” in 2009. The Space Center Orchestras recently enjoyed performing a concert along side Mark Wood, the lead violinist of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. She was also a conductor with the Greater Houston Youth Orchestra and currently conducts the Bay Area Youth Symphony. As the founder of “Sizzling Strings Summer Camp” in the Clear Lake area, Mrs. Black encourages string students to study jazz and rock styles.

As a teacher, Mrs. Black has gained membership in TMAA and has been awarded a lifetime membership with the PTA as well as received a faculty merit award from Space Center Intermediate. As a performer, she has done contract work with numerous symphonies and churches. She has also won a $10,000 technology grant along with co-director Jennifer Kidwell for the Space Center Orchestras. In 2008, she was awarded a grant to study “Strings Without Boundaries” for a week in Pittsburgh for teacher training in jazz and rock styles.

Preparatory Conductor - Kysha Bradshaw
Kysha, plays violin, guitar, bass -- received her BA in Music from Brigham Young University in 1998, won the 1994 National Collegiate MTNA Collegiate Quartet Competition in Washington D.C., and has served in key positions in the BYU Philharmonic as well as concertmaster of several orchestras. She has soloed with symphonies since she was 10 and was selected from the U.S. and Canada for a concert tour of South America when she was 11. Of her symphony performance when she was 11, the newspaper reported, "She sounded like someone who had been doing that all her life -- 20 years, at least!"

Making her first TV debut at the age of 5, Kysha's honors include: A four-year scholarship to BYU, Utah Music Sterling Scholar State Finalist 1992, Who's Who Among American High School Students, Outstanding High School Freshman String Player, top prizes at the Utah State Fair in both Fiddling and Classical, Varsity Swim Team, BYU Youth Ballroom Dance Team, BYU Folk Ensemble, and select chamber ensembles. She enjoys teaching and has recorded for minus tracks, movies, and the IMAX film in Zion's National Park.

The proud mother of 2 beautiful girls, Kysha currently resides in Houston, Texas with her husband, Thomas. She teaches dozens of violin students, performs in the symphony, and sends her oldest daughter Summer to perform with her family in Branson and on the road.