Hunter O’Brien

10K Custom, offset G, C# Trill with Platinum Headjoint
PURCHASED FROM FLUTISTRY

Hunter O’Brien engages his audiences with solo recitals and chamber music concerts that foster deep emotional connections. His passionate and artistic outlook on music has garnered him great success in performance and competition settings, including top prizes in the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Woodwind Competition, Houston Flute Club Byron Hester Artist Competition, 19th International Friedrich Kuhlau Flute Competition, Yamaha Young Performing Artists Competition, New York Flute Club Competition, James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition, and Southeast Michigan Flute Association Ervin Monroe Young Artist Competition. He was recently featured on the opening night gala concert at the 2023 NFA Convention.

Active as a recitalist and chamber musician, he gave his Boston recital debut in September 2018, performing the Fenwick Smith Tribute Concert in Jordan Hall presented by the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Fund. He later performed across New England as a member of the Boreas Wind Quintet, a 2018 New England Conservatory Honors Ensemble. As a member of the Houston-based Kodan Quintet, he has received prizes in the Coltman, Music Teachers National Association, and New Orleans chamber music competitions. The quintet will soon record an album in collaboration with Interlochen Public Radio in November 2023.

Hunter currently teaches lessons and masterclasses through several Houston-area school districts, sharing the passion and inspiration instilled by his former mentors. He has been a featured seminar teacher at the Houston Flute Club Flute Festival, guest teaching artist/adjudicator for the Houston Youth Symphony, faculty artist for the AFA Houston Chamber Music Academy and has presented alongside his former teacher, Dr. Joanna Cowan White at the Central Michigan University Summer Music Flute Institute. He is currently entering his second year as a fellow in the DACAMERA of Houston Young Artist Fellowship Program where he serves as a mentor, chamber musician, and principal teaching artist for DACAMERA’s innovative Music Encounters program.

Along with his performance and teaching career, Hunter has received many awards and honors including the Flutistry Boston Founder’s Award Scholarship, the National Federation of Music Club's Ernest A. Bluhm Flute Award, and the New England Conservatory’s Donna Heiken Presidential Flute Scholarship and Beneficent Society Scholarship.

Hunter began his flute studies with Dr. Joanna Cowan White of Central Michigan University. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music as a Presidential Scholarship student of Paula Robison and a Master of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as a student of Leone Buyse.

Hunter performs on a 10k Haynes flute paired with a platinum Haynes headjoint. He is honored to be recognized as a Haynes Young Artist.