Mr. Tony Wise - Band Director
Tony Wise, in his 22nd year of teaching, has been teaching at Oldham County Middle School since 2005. During this time, he has served many leadership roles at OCMS, including student teacher supervisor, KTIP Mentor, Site-Based Decision Making Council member, and Schools to Watch Committee Chair. Currently, Mr. Wise serves as a New Teacher Mentor, the Related Arts Academic Team Leader, the Building Representative, and is the District Instrumental PLC Lead. Prior to coming to OCMS, he was the Director of Bands at Stuart Middle School in Louisville, Kentucky.
Mr. Wise received a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Morehead State University in 2003. He attended Indiana University Southeast, where he received a Master of Science in Education Degree in 2006 and a Rank I in Educational Leadership in 2008. His primary instrument is the euphonium, where he studied with Dr. Stacy Baker, Dr. Earl Louder, Dr. Susan Creasap, and Dr. Richard Miles. In 2002, Mr. Wise was invited to perform at the International Tuba Euphonium Conference with the World’s Honor Tuba/Euphonium Ensemble in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr. Wise has performed with many prestigious brass bands, including the Lexington Brass Band, Commonwealth Brass Band, and Cincinnati Brass Band.
Mr. Wise has served KMEA as the District Five President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Instrumental and Choral Assessment Manager. He has also served as a Competition Suite manager for numerous marching band competitions. Mr. Wise was named the KMEA District 5 Middle School Teacher of the Year in 2012, 2019. and 2024. Additionally, as an active clinician and adjudicator around the Commonwealth, Mr. Wise is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Kentucky Music Educators Association, the National Band Association, the American School Band Directors Association, Phi Mu Alpha, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
In his spare time, Mr. Wise enjoys spending time volunteering at the Oldham County YMCA, singing karaoke, and fishing. He resides in Smithfield with his wife, Meredith, their children, Jacob, Alexis, Sean, and their dog, Luger. They are proud members of Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
Kim began playing as a fourth grade student and began teaching other students privately as a junior in high school. She studied under Francis Fuge at the University of Louisville.
Kim was a member of the Louisville Youth Orchestra during her sophomore, junior and senior years in high school often playing principal flute. Kim placed first in the state for All State Band, both as a junior and as a senior in high school. She went on to earn a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in Music Performance under full scholarships.
Kim has been teaching privately in the Louisville and Oldham County areas for many years. She has had a number of students perform in the Louisville Youth Orchestra and place prominently in All County, All District and All State Band and Orchestra. Many of her students have continued on majoring in music after high school.
Kim plays regularly in her church orchestra and performs solos frequently there as well.
During her tenure as Executive Director the Louisville Youth Orchestra's budget grew from 40K to 500K, patron donations rose by 700%, orchestra membership quadrupled and the number of ensembles offered within the organization grew from three to eleven. Performances and collaborative events increased from four annual concerts to a wide array of classical and pops events, community touring efforts, local/regional/national partnerships, beginning string classes in at-risk schools, small ensemble offerings and chamber music classes. Ms. Welsh dedicated herself to assisting students with minimal financial support in joining the LYO and was been instrumental in the development of the LYO scholarship fund. This fund eventually totaled over 40K per year and supported upwards of 100 financially at-risk children with LYO membership fee waivers and private music lessons annually.
Ms. Welsh served five terms as a board member for the Youth Orchestra Division of the League of American Orchestras, held the position of Chair of the Youth Orchestra Division for three years and was an ex-officio member of the League of American Orchestras Board. She has also served on the Louisville Jazz Society Board, as the cultural chairperson for the Oldham County Schools, the editor for Upbeat (the newsletter of the League of American Orchestras Youth Orchestra Division), and on the National Diversity Task Force for Minority Orchestral Musicians.
She was awarded a Presentation Academy Tower Award for Women Leaders in Arts and Communication in 2008 and a Most Admired Woman in the Arts by Today’s Woman Magazine in 2016. Mayor Greg Fischer named April 25 as Melody Welsh-Buchholz day in honor of her last concert with the LYO in 2025.
Ms. Welsh is an avid horsewoman and trains and shows actively in the English Dressage discipline. She has been awarded her bronze medal and has scores toward her silver medal. She enjoys spending as much time as possible with her Danish warmbloods - Nestor and Kasper.
She is also a passionate vegetable gardener and maintains a large garden at her home, Moody Waters Farm, during the summer months.
She lives in Crestwood, KY with her husband Dr. Dennis Buchholz and their two cats – Merlin and Moses and their two golden retrievers – Uma and Astrid.
Craig’s debut recording as a leader, Away With Words, was released in 2013 on the Bugles Media label to critical acclaim. His sideman discography includes recordings with Brazilian saxophonist Anderson Pessoa, the international group Mixolegion, The Hot Sauce Brass Band, Bobby Falk, Justin Paul Lewis, The 23 String Band, Small Time Napoleon, Quiet Hollers, and Mario Santiago to name a few. As a studio musician he can be heard on the Netflix movie “Hurt,” multiple KET documentaries, and many local television and radio commercials.
Craig’s performance credits include work with The Temptations, Tierra Cali, Houndmouth, and The Jack Wilkins Blue and Green Project. In 2010 Craig did an extended tour of Russia with The Mixolegion Quintet which led to the recording of the groups debut CD. Most recently Craig was a featured soloist throughout the midwest on Josh Groban’s Stages tour.
In addition to performing Craig is also a very active author and educator. He has written five books which are all available through qPress Publishing. He has been a member of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop faculty since 2009. Since moving to Louisville in 2006 he has maintained a full studio of private trumpet students and is in high demand as a clinician and paraprofessional. He has worked with more than twenty middle and high school music programs throughout Louisville and its surrounding counties. Craig also recently joined the music faculty of Indiana University Southeast. Craig has worked with Oldham County Middle School since 2019.
