Eugene Butler

Dr. Eugene Butler (1935-2024) has established a solid and respected position in the music world as a composer, conductor, educator and church musician.

He received a B.M.E. degree from Oklahoma University, a Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York and D.M.A. in Composition from the University of Missouri‑Kansas City.

As a composer, Dr. Butler has received various honors, such as Kansas Composer of the Year and the coveted ASCAP Standard Music Panel Award, every year since 1972. In 1983, he was selected as the Outstanding Alumnus by the University of Missouri‑Kansas City. In 1986, he was honored with the prestigious Burlington‑Northern Railroad Recognition for Excellence in Teaching and received the Distinguished Service Award from Johnson County Community College. In 1989, Dr. Butler received a National Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas‑Austin. In 1991 and 1992, he designed a study course and guide for Mozart's Don Giovanni under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

To date, he has more than 650 published compositions with forty‑seven different publishing houses, as well as numerous unpublished manuscripts. He was frequently busy with commissioned works, and in any given week of the year the music of Eugene Butler may be heard in thousands of performances throughout the English‑speaking world.

In 1998, Dr. Butler retired from his duties as Director of Choral Activities and Music Theory at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, the conductor of the Johnson County Choirs and as the director of Music and the Arts at Valley View United Methodist Church in Overland Park.

Dr. Eugene Butler was a busy adjudicator and workshop leader of composition seminars, choral and church music clinics and new music repertory sessions. He has conducted and taught in thirty‑nine states, three Canadian provinces and England.