Christopher Houlihan, a 20-year-old Connecticut native and senior music major at Trinity College where he is the organ scholar, will perform in the Hartford Symphony's Season Opening Concert on September 24 under the baton of Edward Cumming at the Bushnell Center for Performing Arts in downtown Hartford.

"I'm extremely excited. I never thought it would happen so soon," he said. "It is an unbelievable honor to play with such well-respected, world-renowned musicians."

A bus of 75 students and faculty members will travel to the Bushnell on Wednesday night for the performance. Houlihan, whose family resides in Somers, Conn., where Houlihan spent most of his childhood, says he is looking forward to performing in front of his friends and family.

"The support has been wonderful," he said. "I'm hoping that a good crowd of students and family members will be in attendance."

Houlihan will perform Samuel Barber's Toccata Festiva, which is the same selection that his teacher and mentor, John Rose, Trinity College Organist, played with the Symphony when the refurbished Austin Organ was re-dedicated back in 1990.

"Chris is an exciting performer who will undoubtedly thrill the symphony audience with his insightful musicianship and virtuosity," Rose enthusiastically stated about Houlihan's upcoming performance of Toccata Festiva.

"I've been practicing quite a bit. I'm particularly excited about the pedal solo in the middle of the piece," Houlihan added. "That will be a special moment."

James F. Jones, Trinity College President, is one of Houlihan's biggest fans. Jones visited Houlihan on two separate occasions during visits to France, where he was able to watch his favorite organist perform. In fact, Houlihan is going to be the organist at the wedding of President Jones' daughter, Jennifer, in Narragansett, R.I. this September along with American opera star, Christine Brewer, who has an honorary doctorate from Trinity.

"With the one peer, world-renowned soprano Christine Brewer some thirty years ago, Christopher Houlihan is the most gifted young musician I have ever known: a fact that is immediately revealed whenever he sits down upon the organ bench, in cathedrals in France or in churches or concert halls in America. Trinity College will be exceedingly delighted to note, as his career continues its meteoric pace, that he studied under John Rose's expert guidance while an undergraduate at our College," President Jones stated.

And saying that Houlihan's career has traveled at a meteoric pace, may be an understatement. In June, Houlihan earned a "Prix de perfectionnement" diploma in Paris, France after performing for a jury that awarded him distinction in the perfectionnement program, the "Prix des amis de l'orgue de Versailles." The diploma is equivalent to an artist's diploma in America, which is a post-grad level.

While in Paris, where Houlihan is studying in the Trinity College-in-Paris program, the young organist worked with Jean-Baptiste Robin at the Versailles Conservatoire and served as the Assistant Musician at the American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. There, he had the opportunity to perform in front of George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, Laura Bush, First Lady, and Craig Stapleton, U.S. Ambassador to France, along with his wife Debbie Stapleton, who are both parishioners at the Cathedral.

Houlihan, who has studied piano since age 7, began studying the organ at age 12. Just three years later, he won first prize in the high school division of the 2003 Albert Schweitzer Organ Festival/USA National Competition. He was a 2005 and 2007 recipient of the Charlotte Hoyt Bagnall Scholarship for Church Musicians and he is the first and current recipient of the John Rose Organ Scholarship at Trinity College. In addition to serving as Trinity's Assistant Chapel organist as a first-year student, Houlihan was Organ Scholar at Hartford's St. Joseph Cathedral, and as a sophomore was Trinity College Organ Scholar at Christ Church Cathedral, also in Hartford. He has studied piano with Linda Laurent of Central Connecticut State University and composition with Robert Edward Smith, Trinity College Composer-in-Residence.

He has also been active in many areas of Trinity's musical life, including singing with the Chapel Singers, Concert Choir, and The Accidentals, an all-male a cappella group on campus which he was chosen to direct this year. He is also involved in music directing and musical theatre productions on campus.

For more information on Christopher Houlihan, visit www.christopherhoulihan.com. For more information on the Hartford Symphony, visit www.hartfordsymphony.org. Tickets for the show are available on the Symphony website or by calling 860-244-2999.