Meet our teachers

LEARN FROM DR DUNLEAVY NOW!
Ulster-born Houston Dunleavy is a freelance composer and conductor, who has also had a 30-year career teaching in Higher Education. He has taught at The State University of New York at Buffalo, where he was Presidential Fellow, Interlochen Arts Camp, The University of Wollongong where he was Head of Composition and Acting Head of School, The Australian Institute of Music, where he as Head of Composition and Production, and Academic Director of The Australian Guild of Music Education until 2020. He has been Adjunct Follow at the Australian National University in Canberra and an honorary Fellow at the University of Wollongong.

His composition teachers include Peter Tahourdin, Barry Conyngham, Donald Erb, David Felder and Charles Wuorinen, and his conducting teachers were Roland Yeung and Gilbert Brooks.

As a conductor, he was Musical Director of the Sydney Male Choir, 2010 - 2016, and has conducted over 40 operas and music theatre works, and has conducted choirs on three continent’s as well as leading choral and vocal workshops, and guest conducted for a number of orchestras around the world.

Houston has been Guest Artist at The American University in Washington D.C., Visiting Composer at James Madison University, The Cleveland Institute of Music, Ball State University, the University of Florida, Georgia State University and The University of Southern Florida, The University of Melbourne and the Tasmanian Conservatorium of Music. He has conducted, and had performances of his music, in Australia, the USA, the UK, France, China, and Puerto Rico, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Taiwan and Canada, and is regularly broadcast of Classic FM and Fine Music in Australia, as well a National Public Radio in the USA and other classical music networks around the world.

Performances of his music were given The 2008 Albert Roussel Festival, The 2008 Delaware New Music Festival, The 2010 Organs of the Goldfields Festival, The 2010 San Diego Flute Festival, The 2011 Tubamania Festival in Bangkok, the 2011 Melbourne International Festival of Brass, the 2011 Australian National Flute Festival and the 2011 Opera Prometheus Short Opera Festival “Sydney in Love”. New works since then have been premiered in Sydney, New York, London, Melbourne and other cities. The most recent premier was his Concord Duet for flute and clarinet in Melbourne.

His music has been performed by major concerts artists such as Beverley Rinaldi, soprano, Alan Baer (principal tuba of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra), Kevin Orr, David Goldblatt, Stephen Manes, Haydeé Schwarz and Duncan Gifford, pianists, Adam Meyer, trombone, Susan Collins, violin, Harold Levin and Brett Deubner, viola, Peter Sheridan and Lisa Osmialowski, flutes, ensembles such as The Manes Duo, Syzrgy, The Kingfisher Trio, Kammer, Locana, The Bugallo-Williams Duo, Charisma, and The Sirius Ensemble.

His compositional interests include music for orchestra, the theatre (including dance), the voice and the church, the combination of electro-acoustic and acoustic resources especially in real time (such as in his Spaces series of works), the exploration of virtuosity (Gondwanaland a concerto for tuba and symphonic winds) and indigenous Australian music (the Earth Music series).

He is published by Wiripang and his music appears on he “Wirripang”, “Wayfarer” and “Move” labels.

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