Michael Houstoun

Michael Houstoun was born in Timaru, New Zealand in 1952. He became interested in the piano when he was a small child and began lessons at the age of 5. Under the tutelage, first of Sister Mary Eulalie in Timaru, and then of the great Maurice Till in Christchurch and Dunedin, Houstoun moved through the examination grades and by the age of 18 had won every major competition in New Zealand.

In 1973 he entered the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition where he placed third. Other international competition successes came in 1975 at the Leeds Competition (fourth prize) and in 1982 at the Tchaikowsky Competition (sixth prize).

Houstoun lived away from New Zealand from 1974 until 1981 and in this time studied with Rudolf Serkin at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (‘74/’75) and with Brigitte (‘Gigi’) Wild in London (’78/’79). He performed in the USA, UK, Germany and Holland.

In 1981 Houstoun followed his heart back to New Zealand where he has continued to live and concertise ever since, performing also in Australia, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. He plays from a large repertoire which stretches from JS Bach to the present day, including 40 concertos and chamber music. A strong advocate of New Zealand music, works from Douglas Lilburn to John Psathas are regularly featured in his programmes. During the 1990s he concentrated on the music of Beethoven, playing the complete sonatas in five cycles around New Zealand - Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier. He played the concerto cycle in NZ and Australia.

In 1996 he collaborated with television producer Tainui Stephens on a documentary about Franz Liszt, ‘Icon in b minor’, and in 2005 was the subject of another documentary, ‘Piano Man’.

Houstoun frequently adjudicates music competitions in New Zealand, and in 1998 was a juror at the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City.

Houstoun won the Turnovsky Prize in 1982, and in 1999 received an honorary doctorate in literature from Massey University. He was a recipient of a 2007 Arts Foundation Laureate Award, and will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Music at Victoria University's May 2011 Graduation.

He is Patron of the Nelson School of Music, the Regent on Broadway theatre in Palmerston North, the New Zealand Music Examinations Board, the New Zealand Institute of Registered Music Teachers, and the Kerikeri National Piano Competition.

- biography courtesy www.michaelhoustoun.co.nz
- photographs courtesy www.zillwood.co.nz