William John Newbrough

Associate Professor of Piano

E-mail: william.newbrough@houghton.edu
Phone: 585.567.9409

Dr. William J. Newbrough joined the Houghton College faculty in 2002 as Assistant Professor of Piano. Newbrough holds the Artist Diploma, Doctor of Musical Arts degree, and Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music/ Johns Hopkins University, and the Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of California at Berkeley. He has studied with Leon Fleisher, Haggai Niv, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Dominique Weber, and Gilbert Kalish.

A veteran performer, Newbrough has won numerous awards at international and national piano competitions, and has been featured in solo, chamber, and concerto engagements in the United States, Canada, Australia, England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands and South Korea. Highlight venues have included Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Chateau de La Gesse near Toulouse, France, the Van Cliburn Piano Institute in Texas, and a performance on the Houghton College Artist Series with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. He has made seven television appearances, including "Great Discoveries" on the Discovery Channel HD, multiple performances on the acclaimed TV series "Grand Piano," and a feature on "California Tonight".  Many of his performances have also been broadcast on radio. While at Peabody, he had the great honor of winning both piano competitions hosted by the conservatory, resulting in a season of award performances and a special commencement performance. Other awards at Peabody included the Yale Gordon Honorary Medallion in Music, as well as special prizes bestowed by the Faculty and Deans. More recently, Newbrough was the only American out of ten pianists worldwide chosen to perform at the prestigious Franz Liszt International Piano Masterclasses in Utrecht.

A native of Chicago, Newbrough has resided in such varied locales as the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore, and Las Vegas. In addition to being a classical pianist, he has a great many sacred works within his active performance repertoire. At the age of only 14, Bill-John became one of the youngest performers ever to win first prize and grand prize instrumentalist at the Christian Artists’ Music Seminar in the Rockies (Estes Park, CO). This greatly inspired his development in the music ministry, and he counts the opportunity to reach others for the Lord through music as a tremendous blessing. He has served in many roles as church staff pianist, writer of hymn arrangements, and guest performer at churches, colleges, missionary enrichment and training conferences, retreats, and charity/ benefit concerts. He has produced two sacred CDs, "The Sacred Tradition" and "Benediction," on the Mark Custom label, and his first DVD, also entitled "Benediction," on the DiscMakers label. He gratefully acknowledges that his performance ability is entirely a gift from God, and through his dedication constantly strives to give Him all the glory.

Dr. Newbrough has particular interest in the music of Franz Liszt, as well as wide-ranging expertise in the genre of the piano etude and obscure romantic piano literature. His doctoral dissertation traces and catalogues the history of the etude, a monumental work which he is planning to eventually expand and publish as a book. He already has published articles in other fields to his credit.In addition to his full-time teaching position at Houghton College, Newbrough also serves as a faculty member at the Csehy Summer School of Music, where he teaches piano and music theory. Other interests include hiking and aviation.