Christopher Houlihan has been added to the artists roster of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, and is probably the youngest performer ever admitted to a roster of one of the major agencies for concert organists. He holds the “Prix de Perfectionnement” from the French National Conservatory in Versailles (roughly equivalent to an Artist’s Diploma from a U.S. university), where he also won “Le Prix des Amis de l’orgue de Versailles,” as a student of Jean-Baptiste Robin. A graduate of Trinity College, Hartford, he studied with John Rose and won the Helen Loveland Morris Prize in Music; he is now a graduate student at the Juilliard School in New York, where he studies with Paul Jacobs. He is attending Juilliard as the recipient of the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship, and a new scholarship, the Chairman’s Grant, awarded by the school’s president to “support a small number of students who have demonstrated exceptional potential for success at Juilliard.”
Before the age of 21, in addition to earning the “Prix de Perfectionnement” in Versailles, Houlihan made his professional debut with an orchestra (sharing the spotlight with Joshua Bell at the Hartford Symphony), saw the release of his first commercial CD (Towerhill), served as a cathedral musician both in the U.S. and Europe, and performed for a sitting U.S. president. While studying in France, he was the associate musician at the American Cathedral in Paris. At age 15 he won first prize (high school division) in the Albert Schweitzer National Organ Competition.
His many college friends formed a fan club for his recitals called “Houli Fans,” which has now spread across the country via Internet memberships. The Hartford Courant critic wrote after his orchestral debut that “Houlihan showed that an organ soloist can have the charisma and energy of a major [orchestral] soloist” and praised his “strong international potential” as a major soloist. For information: www.concertartists.com.
