Upcoming Events

   April 17, 2014, Nightingale Hall, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada
   "Wilderness Portraits"
   Argenta Trio

Projects and Commissions

Pianist Christopher Atzinger, Associate Professor of Piano, St. Olaf College, and winner of a McKnight Fellowship, performed "Sonata for Piano"
in recital on October 13 in Rehobeth, Massachusetts, on October 14 in Burlington, Vermont, and on November 12 at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, Minnesota. Atzinger plans to perform the work several more times this season and to record it for commercial release.

Recent compositions by Ms. Houghton include a setting of "The Beatitudes" for children's chorus.

Recent Events and Accolades

The Almeda Trio performed "Menage a Trois" on April 28, 2013, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

The Cleveland Chamber Collective presented the world premiere of their commissioned work "Pentimento" on April 19, 2013, in Drinko Hall, at Cleveland State University. This work was inspired, in part, by the melancholy sound of dingos heard by the composer in the Australian outback. Also on the program was a new work entitled "Rondeau Variations,"  based on the same Purcell theme employed by Benjamin Britten in his "Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra," to which Monica contributed a section entitled, "The Chipmunk Variation."

The composer produced a benefit concert for the Reno Chamber Orchestra on January 31, 2013, at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada. The program included the world premieres of  "Wilderness Portraits: Three Places in Nevada," for piano trio, and "Three Songs on Poems of Emily Dickinson," for soprano and piano, together with three other Houghton works, and featured performers Ruth Lenz, violin; Carol Laube, violin; Dustin Budish, viola; Peter Lenz, 'cello; Adele Park, piano; Katherine DeBoer, soprano; and James Winn, piano.

Following the Panorámicos concert on May 11, 2012, at St. Bonaventure U, the Olean Times Herald reported, "Houghton's three Songs Without Words captivated the audience through the intimate sounds of flutist and guitarist." Previously, Panorámicos had performed this and three other Houghton compositions on April 29, 2012, along with works by Vaughn Williams, Villa Lobos and Pixinguinha, with guest artists Don Better, guitar, and Kip Reed, bass, in Harkness Chapel, at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. "Stay, Shadow," a setting in Spanish of a sonnet by Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz, for soprano, flute, viola and piano, was commissioned by Panorámicos. Sandra Simon, soprano, Mary Kay Robinson, flute, Lynne Ramsey, viola, and Alijca Basinska, piano, performed. Lynne Ramsey performed "Odyssey," for solo viola and Don Better gave his fourth performance of "Blue Shuffle," in addition to the "Three Songs without Words" with Mary Kay Robinson.

"One of the most well-constructed contemporary cycles I have sung," is how Andrew White, baritone, referred to "Five Songs on Poems of James Wright," a work he has performed on three different occasions, most recently at University of Nebraska-Kearney, with Valerie Cisler, piano.

Guitarist Stephen Aron, with soprano Lauren Feola, performed "Talismans," after a text by Linda Goodman on a collaborative concert of the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society and the Cleveland Composers Guild, on February 19, 2012, at West Park United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio. George Bachmann also performed "Blue Shuffle" there on electric guitar.

Mezzo-soprano Kim Lauritsen, who also teaches violin in Cleveland, Ohio, commissioned "A Song for Living," in honor of her grandmother Eleanor Harris's 100th birthday. The work was presented as a surprise to the more than sixty family members and friends who gathered for her birthday celebration, on February 19, 2012, in Opelika, Alabama, with Vicki Harris and Ms. Lauritsen, violins, and Mary Sue Harris, piano, performing.