Michael Houstoun | |
|---|---|
 Michael Houstoun in 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael James Houstoun |
| Born | 20 October 1952 Timaru, New Zealand |
| Genres | classical |
| Occupation(s) | concert pianist |
| Instrument(s) | piano |
| Website | www |
Michael James Houstoun CNZM (born 20 October 1952) is a concert pianist from New Zealand. He has twice in his life performed the complete cycle of Beethoven sonatas and in between these achievements, he overcame focal hand dystonia.
Houstoun was born in Timaru in 1952. [1] His parents were Archie and Ngaire Houstoun. He received his education at Claremont Primary School and Timaru Boys' High School. [1] Houstoun started playing piano at the age of five and studied under Sister Mary Eulalie in Timaru and, from age 15, Maurice Till in Christchurch. [1] [2]
Having won every New Zealand piano competition and award as a teenager, Houstoun then travelled and entered three major international competitions: Van Cliburn (1973, 3rd place), Leeds (1975, 4th place) and Tchaikovsky (1982, 6th). [3]
From 1974 to 1981, he studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and London. [2] Houstoun returned to live in New Zealand in 1981; as of 2012 [update] he lived in Feilding. [4] He regularly plays with New Zealand's professional music-ensembles as well as giving solo recitals and recording. Aged 40, [5] he performed and recorded the complete Beethoven-sonata cycle, and collaborated with Tainui Stephens on a television documentary about Franz Liszt entitled Icon in B minor.
In 1987, he launched the Kerikeri competition which became the Kerikeri International Piano Competition [6] in 2012, attracting outstanding pianists and teachers from around the world.
In 1990, Houstoun received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. [7]
In 1999, Houstoun received an honorary doctorate in literature from Massey University. Houstoun started suffering from focal hand dystonia, which could easily have ended his career. The condition was treated with physiotherapy and acupuncture, and he had splints made, used rubber bands, and learned braille as sensory retraining, but Houstoun believes that his relaxation technique helped him overcome the condition. [8] [9] In 2001 a documentary was filmed[ by whom? ] about his condition. [4] After five years he started performing again as a soloist. [4] [9] In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Houstoun was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as a pianist. [4]
In 2013, he repeated his achievement from 20 years earlier of performing all 32 Beethoven piano-sonatas. [3] [10]
Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is noted for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He is originally from Russia and has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972. He has lived in Switzerland since 1978. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon.
Maurizio Pollini is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has also championed and performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Benjamin, Roberto Carnevale, Gianluca Cascioli and Bruno Maderna. Works composed for him include Luigi Nono's ... sofferte onde serene ..., Giacomo Manzoni's Masse: omaggio a Edgard Varèse and Salvatore Sciarrino's Fifth Sonata.
Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, recording the complete sonatas of both composers. He is considered to have been one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century and one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Emil Grigoryevich Gilels was a Soviet pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Murray David Perahia is an American pianist and conductor. He is widely considered one of the greatest living pianists. He was the first North American pianist to win the Leeds International Piano Competition, in 1972. Known as a leading interpreter of Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann, among other composers, Perahia has won numerous awards, including three Grammy Awards from a total of 18 nominations, and 9 Gramophone Awards in addition to its first and only "Piano Award".
Leon Fleisher was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most refined and transcendent musicians the United States has ever produced".
Focal dystonia, also called focal task specific dystonia, is a neurological condition that affects a muscle or group of muscles in a specific part of the body during specific activities, causing involuntary muscular contractions and abnormal postures. There are many different types of focal dystonia, each affecting a different region of the body. For example, in focal hand dystonia, or writer's cramp, the fingers either curl into the palm or extend outward without control. In musicians, the condition is called musician's focal dystonia, or simply, musician's dystonia. In sports, it may be involved in what is commonly referred to as the yips. The condition appears to be associated with over-training, and individualized treatment strategies may involve medications, retraining techniques, and procedures.
John O'Conor is an Irish pianist and pedagogue, and former director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Nelson José Pinto Freire was a Brazilian classical pianist. Regarded as one of the greatest pianists of his generation, he was noted for his "decorous piano playing" and "interpretive depth". His extensive discography for labels such as Sony Classical, Teldec, Philips, and Decca has garnered awards including the Gramophone Award and Diapason d'Or. Freire appeared as soloist with the world's most prestigious orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He played and recorded piano duo music with Martha Argerich, a long-time musical and personal friend.
Paul Badura-Skoda was an Austrian pianist.
Michael Ponti was a German-American classical pianist. He was the first to record the complete piano works by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin. He made more than 80 recordings, around 50 of rarely played concertos from the Romantic period, often the only recording of these works at the time. He played and recorded chamber music with his Ponti-Zimansky-Polasek Trio.
Emanuel "Manny"Ax is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher at the Juilliard School.
Radu Lupu was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time.
Jonathan Biss is an American pianist, teacher, and writer based in Philadelphia. He is the co-artistic director of the Marlboro Music Festival.
Paul Lewis is an English classical pianist.
Malcolm Frager was an American piano virtuoso and recording artist.
Richard Farrell was a New Zealand classical pianist.
Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 32 mature piano sonatas between 1795 and 1822. Although originally not intended to be a meaningful whole, as a set they comprise one of the most important collections of works in the history of music. Hans von Bülow called them "The New Testament" of piano literature.
Igor Levit is a Russian-German pianist who focuses on the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Liszt. He is also a professor at the Musikhochschule Hannover. He lives in Berlin.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
