William Newbrough, DMA AD

Dr. William John Newbrough is a Steinway Artist, Rochester-based concert pianist and Professor of Piano and Director of Piano Studies at Houghton University, Houghton, NY. He was awarded the Horne Blanchard Endowed Chair of Music at Houghton University in 2014 and 2019, and was named the Mabel Barnum Davidson Distinguished Professor of Fine Arts in 2012. He has earned the Artist Diploma, Doctor of Musical Arts degree, and Master of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music/ Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and the Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of California at Berkeley. Newbrough studied piano with Leon Fleisher, Haggai Niv, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Dominique Weber, and Gilbert Kalish, and has participated in master classes with Richard Goode, Earl Wild, and Malcolm Bilson.

A veteran performer, Newbrough has won many international and national piano competitions and performed in numerous solo, chamber music, and concerto engagements in the United States, Canada, Mexico, England, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Russia, South Korea, and Australia. Highlight venues have included Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, the French embassy in Washington, D.C., the Van Cliburn Piano Institute, the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, the Chopin Foundation in San Francisco, and Artist Series performances with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra. Newbrough was the only American of nine pianists worldwide chosen to perform at the prestigious Franz Liszt International Masterclasses and Festival in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is also part of the chamber duet named “Acclaim Duo”.   

Newbrough has performed multiple times on the television series “Grand Piano,” and he was featured on “Great Discoveries” on the Discovery Channel. Many of his performances have also been broadcast on radio. Newbrough has been a recipient of many musical awards, including the Yale Gordon Honorary Medallion in Music, an Eisner Award, and BPAC Artist of the Year.

In addition to being a classical pianist, Newbrough performs his own hymn arrangements in churches, colleges, and charity and benefit concerts. Some of the churches at which he has played include the Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida, Moody Church in Chicago, First Baptist Church in Atlanta, and First Baptist Church in Anchorage, Alaska. He has three sacred piano CDs, “The Sacred Tradition,” “Benediction,” and “Acclamation” on the Mark Custom Recordings label, and a full-length production DVD also entitled “Benediction.” One of his CDs became eligible for a Grammy nomination.