Christopher Houlihan News and Announcements

Work in Progress: STEEL SYMPHONY for Organ, written for Christopher Houlihan

By composer Patrick Greene The following is an excerpt. Click here for the full article. I’m currently on the home stretch of my piece for the wonderful organist Christopher Houlihan, and it’s coming along well! The premiere is July 2 in Hartford, as part of the New England/New York AGO convention. He’s going to be playing it shortly thereafter in South Carolina, too, for all you southerners… (read more)

Organist & classical music cool-guy, Christopher Houlihan, returns to Chicago

By Margaret Sutherlin ChicagoMusic.org May 10, 2013 If one person can make the pipe organ cool, it’s a safe bet that it Christopher Houlihan is your guy. At just 25, Houlihan has performed at Notre Dame in Paris, been praised by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and LA Times for his talent, and was an assistant music director at the American Cathedral in Paris. Christopher Houlihan performs… (read more)

A Chat With: Organist Christopher Houlihan

Playbill Arts May 2, 2013 An interview with the organist Christopher Houlihan, who performs at Christ and St Luke's Episcopal Church in Norfolk on May 3 at 8:00 pm. The concert is co-presented by Virginia Arts Festival and the Tidewater Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Mr. Houlihan will perform music by JS Bach, Louis Vierne, Camille Saint-Saens and Franz Liszt. The young American organist… (read more)

Review: Organist Christopher Houlihan in symphonic works by Vierne and Liszt at Fairmount Presbyterian (April 19)

By Timothy Robson Cleveland Classical April 22, 2013 Christopher Houlihan, a rising star in the classical organ world, made his second Northeast Ohio appearance on Friday, April 19, at Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights (he played last November at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown). The concert was jointly sponsored by Fairmount and the Cleveland Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.… (read more)

Acclaimed organist to visit St. Joseph

By Andrew Gaug St. Joe Live March 29, 2013 Christopher Houlihan knows the preconceptions people have with organs — they're boring, they're only for church services, and on and on. In fact, he had the same ideas when he was a kid. Coming to St. Joseph on April 7, the Somers, Conn., organ maestro plans to not only smash those myths, but also get people interested in the classic art of playing one.… (read more)

Organist Christopher Houlihan at Broadway Baptist, Fort Worth

February 23, 2013

By Scott Cantrell Dallas Morning News February 24, 2013 FORT WORTH—Broadway Baptist Church has the largest pipe organ in the state, a gigantic five-manual instrument installed in 1996 by the Canadian firm Casavant. The church is also one of fewer than a handful around here suggesting the cathedral-esque reverberation for which most great organ music was conceived. The instrument was lavishly displayed… (read more)

What a Set of Pipes

February 23, 2013

By Gregory Sullivan Isaacs Theatre Jones February 24, 2013 Making a career as concert organist—as opposed to a church organist—is an almost monumental task, considering how little attention organists get by the concert-going public. When is the last time an organist played a concerto with the Dallas Symphony, even though the Meyerson boasts one of the world's great instruments, which mostly sits… (read more)

Christopher Houlihan plays the organ at Bach Festival Society

February 15, 2013

By Esteban Meneses The Examiner February 16, 2013 American organist Christopher Houlihan, an incredibly gifted performer and leader among professional organists of his generation, performed a multifaceted recital at Rollins College, launching the 78th Annual Bach Festival. The Friday evening recital exhibited the Knowles Memorial Chapel's impressive organ, masterfully played by a 25-year old star… (read more)

78th Bach Festival opens with organist Christopher Houlihan

February 13, 2013

By Matthew J. Palm, Orlando Sentinel Arts Writer February 13, 2013 It takes some special friends to get a career up and running. Christopher Houlihan, a rising star in the world of organ performance, knows. He's the first performer in this year's Bach Festival, the 78th series of concerts, talks and other events presented by the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park. Houlihan was attending Trinity… (read more)

Homage on an organ

January 17, 2013

By Susan Rife Arts Sarasota January 18, 2013 Last June — exactly 75 years after Louis Vierne, the longtime principal organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris collapsed and died at the keyboard while giving his 1,750th recital — Christopher Houlihan sat down at the Church of the Ascension in New York City and prepared for a marathon solo concert of the six symphonies Vierne wrote for the… (read more)

Pipe Dreams:Prodigy Christopher Houlihan on playing six Louis Vierne organ symphonies in one day

August 16, 2012

Theater Jones, Dallas August 17, 2012 by Gregory Isaacs On Saturday, at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, a musical immersion into late French Romantic organ music will take place. Organist Christopher Houlihan, a brilliant young virtuoso, will perform all six of the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne (1870-1937) in an afternoon and evening session. It is the end of a six-city tour of this massive… (read more)

An organist's marathon, as Houlihan plays Vierne

August 12, 2012

By Scott Cantrell The Dallas Morning News August 10, 2012 Marathons don’t happen only at the Olympics and around White Rock Lake. In fact, one is scheduled Saturday inside the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. Between afternoon and evening sessions, 24-year-old organist Christopher Houlihan will perform the six organ symphonies of Louis Vierne (1870-1937), the famous blind organist of Notre… (read more)

Christopher Houlihan Vierne Marathon - A review of the New York recital

By Jonathan B. Hall The Diapason August 2012 On Saturday, June 2, Christopher Houlihan kicked off his six-city tour of the six Vierne symphonies with two recitals at the Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue in New York City. This church has been since 2010 the home to a large and very successful Pascal Quoirin organ. There is no doubt that the program performed on it that day will stand as one… (read more)

LA Times Review: Louis Vierne's organ symphonies are a revelation

By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music Critic July 22, 2012 Christopher Houlihan's quixotic six-city, six-Louis-Vierne-organ-symphony tour reached the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Thursday and Friday nights. It commemorates the 75th anniversary of the day — June 2, 1937 — that the blind French composer dropped dead at the Notre-Dame de Paris organ, just as he was finishing his 1,750th… (read more)

Christopher Houlihan featured on "Arts Alive" With Brian Lauritzen - KUSC fm 95.1 Classical

Christopher Houlihan may not fit your image of a concert organist, but Houlihan has been fascinated by the instrument since the age of 10. Houlhan is in concert at The Cathedral of Our Lady of The Angels on Thursday and Friday. His visit to LA is sure to bring him more Houli Fans. The July 14th program can be streamed or downloaded on the Arts Alive homepage. Christopher's interview starts at 24:30… (read more)

For Louis Vierne's music, Christopher Houlihan pulls out the stops

By Allan M. Jalon Los Angeles Times 14 July 2012 NEW YORK — Few artists suffered the Job-like misfortunes of composer-organist Louis Vierne. Born almost blind, in 1870, he badly injured his leg when he fell in a Paris street as a young man and had his heart broken by the best friend who slept with his wife. A brother and son died in World War I. Then came financial ruin, more women who left him… (read more)

Christopher Houlihan at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

By Mia Clarke Time Out Chicago 28 June 2012 Louis Vierne is to organists what John Bonham is to drummers. An undisputed king of keys, the French composer was born mostly blind but managed to rise up the ranks to snag one of the world’s most coveted pipe posts: principal organist of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. His death in 1937, at age 66, was theatrically macabre. A fatal heart attack in… (read more)

Houlihan provides Vierne with distinctive and colorful advocacy

By Lawrence A. Johnson Chicago Classical Review 9 July 2012 An unexpected summer musical treat was served up last weekend at Rockefeller Chapel by organist Christopher Houlihan. The 24-year-old Juilliard graduate is marking the 75th anniversary of Louis Vierne’s death with a six-city tour performing the French composer’s complete organ symphonies. On Saturday, Houlihan presented the second and… (read more)

Wall Street Journal Review - Six Symphonies in the French Romantic Style

By Barbara Jepson The Wall Street Journal 4 July 2012 Louis Vierne's six symphonies for solo organ, which epitomize the French Romantic style in their tonal colors and dramatic sweep, traverse the turbulent inner landscape of their creator. Best known as the principal organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from 1900 to 1937, his life was a saga of triumph, loss and betrayal. Visually impaired from… (read more)

Young Organist to Tackle Vierne Symphonies in Two-night Marathon

By Lawrence A. Johnson Chicago Classical Review 2 July 2012 It’s summertime and the concert calendar is easy, with most significant classical events hailing from either the Grant Park Music Festival or Ravinia. So, what if the summer symphonic fare was broken up by something really unusual—like a two-night marathon featuring the complete organ symphonies of Louis Vierne? Oddly enough, that’s… (read more)

Recalling the Sounds Of a Life Steeped in Woe: Christopher Houlihan at Church of the Ascension (New York Times)

And in the jubilant, even maniacal finales — like that of the Sixth, bathed in B major brilliance — Mr. Houlihan’s playing had a glamorous sheen appropriate to Vierne’s music, if not his cheerless life. (read more)

Famous Last Notes: The Epic Death of Louis Vierne

Christopher Houlihan Huffington Post May 31, 2012 Most people, even fans of classical music, haven't heard of the composer Louis Vierne. But in a few days, I'm going to be playing all six of his organ symphonies in New York City. It's actually pretty rare to hear even one of these symphonies, so what am I thinking playing all six of them?! This June 2nd will be the 75th anniversary of Vierne's death,… (read more)

VIERNE 2012: One Organist, Six Cities, Six Organ Symphonies

Christopher Houlihan performs the six organ symphonies ofLouis Vierne in six North American cities this summer to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the composer's death (read more)

Christopher Houlihan Makes A Powerful Debut at Davies Symphony Hall

His debut recital in San Francisco this past Sunday at Davies Symphony Hall was heralded by a rousing standing ovation and, with the last vibration of his encore, Vierne's Toccata in B flat minor, the crowd was in a full roar of approval. (read more)