Biography
Hough was born in Heswall (then in Cheshire) on the Wirral Peninsula, and grew up in Hoylake, where he began piano lessons at the age of five. In 1978, he was a finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition and won the piano section. In 1982, he won the Terence Judd Award in England. In 1983, he took first prize at the Naumburg International Piano Competition in New York.
Hough holds a Master's degree from the Juilliard School where his studies were assisted by the receipt of the first ever Royal Philharmonic Society Julius Isserlis Scholarship for study abroad. He has studied with Heather Slade-Lipkin, Gordon Green, and Derrick Wyndham. He is also a composer and transcriber, and often includes his own works in his recitals. The premiere of his cello concerto, written for Steven Isserlis, took place in March 2007, and in the summer of the same year Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral performed masses he wrote for them. In 2009 his trio for piccolo, contrabassoon and piano ('Was mit den Traenen Geschieht') was premiered at the Philharmonie in Berlin by members of the Berlin Philharmonic. His song cycles 'Herbstleider' (2007) and 'Other Love Songs' (2010) were premiered and recorded by members of The Prince Consort. His 'Sonata for Piano (broken branches)' was premiered by himself at the Wigmore Hall in 2011. In 2012 the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Choir gave the world premiere of the orchestrated version of his Missa Mirabilis.
He is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he is a visiting Professor, and a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he is the International Chair of piano studies.
He was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, joining prominent writers and scientists who have made significant contributions in their fields. In 2009 he was named by The Economist and Intelligent Life magazines as one of 20 living polymaths. In 2010 he was named Instrumentalist of the Year at the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. He was given an honorary doctorate by the University of Liverpool in 2011. He is a Governor of the Royal Ballet Companies (The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School), and is a patron of the charity The Nightingale Project, which takes music and art into hospitals.
He had a solo exhibition of his paintings at the Broadbent Gallery in London in October 2012.
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