Dr. Arthur Houle
Founder and Artistic Director, Festival for Creative Pianists
Board Member, Abundant Silence
Arthur Houle is Professor of Music and Director of Keyboard Studies at Colorado Mesa University, where he has earned five Exemplary Faculty Awards since his appointment in 2006. He is also founder and artistic director of the Festival for Creative Pianists, a unique competition open to all young pianists up to age 19. The festival promotes classical and jazz improvisation, versatility, composition, individuality, and repertory excellence in all styles.
An exponent of both classical and jazz improvising, Dr. Houle is in frequent demand as a clinician, adjudicator and performer. He holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, New England Conservatory, and the University of Iowa. He was the only pianist to be invited to perform twice, to critical acclaim, in the 1995 International Chopin Music Festival. He has given coast-to-coast lecture/recitals and master classes at institutions such as Eastman School of Music, Dartmouth College, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and for various teacher organizations. Houle also presents often for national and regional professional conferences. His Carnegie Recital Hall debut with cellist Dennis Parker was critically acclaimed. Frequent radio airings include two live interview/performances on NPR’s "Eklektikos" program for KUT-Austin, Texas.
Houle has been selected as a 2019 Steinway & Sons Top Teacher (press release). Houle was also awarded a 2011 Music Teachers National Association Fellow Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the music teaching profession. He has written for Piano & Keyboard, Clavier, Clavier Companion, Piano Today, American Record Guide, Music Educator journals, American Music Teacher, and the newsletters of FJH, College Music Society, and the Colorado State Music Teachers Association. In 2008, the Hal Leonard Corporation published his Cowboy Jazz, a collection of original compositions for intermediate students. Houle's current publisher, Abundant Silence, has published Cowboy Jazz II and is the process of issuing other original compositions and arrangements for both students and professional musicians. Houle is also editor of a groundbreaking new definitive edition of Clementi's Sonatinas, Op. 36 (cover below; click for more info).
An exponent of both classical and jazz improvising, Dr. Houle is in frequent demand as a clinician, adjudicator and performer. He holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, New England Conservatory, and the University of Iowa. He was the only pianist to be invited to perform twice, to critical acclaim, in the 1995 International Chopin Music Festival. He has given coast-to-coast lecture/recitals and master classes at institutions such as Eastman School of Music, Dartmouth College, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, and for various teacher organizations. Houle also presents often for national and regional professional conferences. His Carnegie Recital Hall debut with cellist Dennis Parker was critically acclaimed. Frequent radio airings include two live interview/performances on NPR’s "Eklektikos" program for KUT-Austin, Texas.
Houle has been selected as a 2019 Steinway & Sons Top Teacher (press release). Houle was also awarded a 2011 Music Teachers National Association Fellow Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions to the music teaching profession. He has written for Piano & Keyboard, Clavier, Clavier Companion, Piano Today, American Record Guide, Music Educator journals, American Music Teacher, and the newsletters of FJH, College Music Society, and the Colorado State Music Teachers Association. In 2008, the Hal Leonard Corporation published his Cowboy Jazz, a collection of original compositions for intermediate students. Houle's current publisher, Abundant Silence, has published Cowboy Jazz II and is the process of issuing other original compositions and arrangements for both students and professional musicians. Houle is also editor of a groundbreaking new definitive edition of Clementi's Sonatinas, Op. 36 (cover below; click for more info).
Houle 53-minute video on his new edition of Clementi Op. 36
Houle's edition in the news - CMU Maverick magazine
Houle lecture/demonstration on Clementi Op. 36 (2017 festival)
Houle's edition in the news - CMU Maverick magazine
Houle lecture/demonstration on Clementi Op. 36 (2017 festival)
2018 Festival for Creative Pianists with Julianne McCollough
Houle’s “Chopin Nocturnes” CD features performances with authentic variants along with original variants as Chopin might have done. Other CDs feature lesser-known cello/piano repertory and the music of contemporary composers James Fry and Marjorie Burgess.
Houle’s principal piano teacher was Leonard Shure, who traced his musical lineage directly to Beethoven (Shure/Schnabel/Leschetizsky/Czerny/Beethoven). Houle’s chamber music coaches included Eugene Lehner, Colin Carr, Benjamin Zander and Victor Rosenbaum, longtime director of the Longy School of Music in Boston.
A private teacher since the age of thirteen, Houle taught previously at New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, the College of Idaho, and the Universities of Iowa, North Dakota and Texas-Austin.
Contact: arthurhoule@cableone.net
Contact: arthurhoule@cableone.net
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