Houston Dunleavy
Houston Dunleavy was born in Ulster and has pursued a wide-ranging international career as a musician, conductor and composer, working across Australia and the United States.
He has been a lecturer for over forty years, serving on numerous faculties including the University of Wollongong, the Australian National University, James Madison University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Ball State University. He is on staff at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney and is Musical Director of the Sydney Male Choir. His mentors were Peter Tahourdin, Barry Conyngham, Donald Erb, David Felder and Charles Wuorinen. As a conductor he has led over forty operas, operettas and musicals in Australia and the USA, including two world-premiere seasons. His music is available from Wirripang publishers.
Artist's website: www.houstondunleavy.com
Compositions by Houston Dunleavy appear on
Dances and Delights
Premiere recordings of Australian and American works for modern flute ensemble fill this album with spirit and serenity, from waltzes and two-steps to cherished song arrangements.
Sonorous Sonatas
Peter Sheridan set out to bring the larger, lower flutes to centre stage, testing their sound and colour within one of Western music’s most traditional forms: the sonata. Commissioned works and substantial duo writing put alto, bass, contrabass and subcontrabass flutes in the foreground.
Fantasie Australis
Compositions by living Australian composers, most based in Melbourne, performed by the Monash University Flute Ensemble under Peter Sheridan. Australia’s flute-ensemble repertoire is still small beside other national traditions, yet the country has a rich store of fine woodwind writing.
Monologues & Dialogues
This recording features the resonant, meditative colours of modern low flutes. Austere, breathy and at times eerie, these deep registers open a sound-world still little explored in woodwind writing, and invite a wide range of musical imaginings.
