Violinist Grant Houston connects with listeners through performances known for his unbridled musical energy and communicative voice. Sharing music both within and beyond traditional concert settings, Grant has performed in venues from the storied Carnegie and Jordan halls to airplane hangars, public parks, biotech labs, and the Volkswagen Transparent Factory in Dresden. Notable chamber music and solo appearances include Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, the Moritzburg Festival Academy, Yellow Barn Young Artists Program, Schlern International Music Festival, and the Music Academy of the West, where he gave a chamber music recital with renowned pianist Jeremy Denk.
In the 2021-2022 season, Grant appears regularly in concerts as a member of Trio Gaia, a piano trio formed in 2018 with pianist Andrew Barnwell and cellist Yi-Mei Templeman, with engagements to include recitals across the East coast, a residency with the Virginia Arts Festival, and appearances at the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop and Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. Trio Gaia has garnered numerous accolades, including prizes at the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, the 2020 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition, the 2019 Plowman Competition, and most recently, first prize at the 2022 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition. In the fall of 2021, Trio Gaia began its appointment as Trio-in-Residence in the New England Conservatory’s Professional Piano Trio Program.
In addition to his career with Trio Gaia, Grant appears frequently with the conductor-less ensembles Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings, and performs as a sought-after chamber musician, with recent engagements including a performance on Boston’s First Monday at Jordan Hall series, a studio recording of Florence Price’s G Major String Quartet which has aired on WGBH, and lecture-recitals at MIT and the Boston Public Library.
Committed to bringing music beyond the formal concert setting, Grant frequently organizes recitals in partnership with schools, senior homes, libraries, and other community settings, and in recent months has brought creative programming into the virtual space. As a recipient of several NEC Community Performances and Partnerships Fellowships, he has performed unique and educational recital and piano trio programs for many Boston-area audiences through partner organizations.
A keen proponent of contemporary music, Grant has worked with numerous composers to premiere works that span the breadth of the genre. Recent projects have included a recital focusing on solo violin works of living composers Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Salvatore Sciarrino, and upcoming endeavors include an appearance on the Boston Symphony’s “What I Hear” chamber music series curated by composer Bernard Rands, and the commissioning of an immersive, audience-interactive piece with Trio Gaia.
Grant has worked with artists Midori, Hilary Hahn, Rachel Barton Pine, Martin Beaver, Inon Barnatan, and Stefan Jackiw among many others, as well as members of the Brentano, Cleveland, Cavani, Juilliard, St. Lawrence, Prazak, Mendelssohn, and Miami string quartets. Currently pursuing Master of Music degrees in both Violin Performance and Chamber Music at NEC, Grant has studied violin with Donald Weilerstein and Ayano Ninomiya, and chamber music with Vivian Hornik Weilerstein and Merry Peckham.
He performs on a 1757 Michel’angelo Bergonzi violin on loan from a private foundation.