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Organist Christopher Houlihan on tricks of the trade, his weekend recital and why being out is not a big deal
Christopher Houlihan is slated to perform works such as Liszt’s Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale ‘Ad Nos ad salutarem undam’ and Patrick Greene’s ‘Steel Symphony for Organ’ at his recital Sunday at First Baptist. (Photo by Ali Winberry; courtesy Classical Music Communications)
Organist Christopher Houlihan
In recital
Playing the new 118-rank Austin organ
First Baptist Church of Washington
1328 16th Street, N.W.
Sunday at 4 p.m.
Free
Organ virtuoso Christopher Houlihan will be in Washington this weekend for a recital at First Baptist Church.
He lives in Queens, New York but is on the road more often than not. We caught up by phone with the 26-year-old during a rehearsal break two weeks ago in Hartford, Conn. His comments have been slightly edited for length.
WASHINGTON BLADE: Do you have an organ at home?
CHRISTOPHER HOULIHAN: No. I practice at a church on the Upper West Side where I’m artist in residence. I practice there and play for them a few times a year. I’m on the road too much to have a regular church job.
BLADE: Is it far from your place? Is it like many of us are with the gym — if it’s too much hassle to get there, we don’t go as often as we should?
HOULIHAN: It’s a subway ride but it works out OK. It gets me out of my apartment. If I were a violinist, I’d just pick up my instrument and practice. But I get to practice in all these amazing spaces, which is much more inspiring than just sitting in my apartment. I like it that practicing takes me to these beautiful spaces.
BLADE: The organ at First Baptist is new. How long will you need to familiarize yourself with it before your recital?
HOULIHAN: I’ll be arriving on Friday afternoon. I never know how long it will take with a new organ. I estimate needing more time when it’s a larger instrument. I’ll be practicing late into the night on Friday and probably Saturday as well.
BLADE: Some young organists say they’re tired of having to constantly learn a new instrument while most seem to accept that it’s part of the deal. Are you frustrated by it?
HOULIHAN: It can be frustrating. Believe me, I’ve had situations where I’m really frustrated because the organ I’m playing can’t do the things I want it to do or it might not be a great instrument. But pianists have to do deal with that too in some ways. Of course organs are much more different. But at the same time, it can also be incredibly rewarding. I think of it like being a conductor and working with different orchestras. Some, maybe, the woodwinds are weak. With others, it might be the brass. … Others you play with are just stunning and inspiring and wonderful. The site specificity, the uniqueness of each instrument, brings so much more to the idea of going to hear an organ recital so each performance ends up being different from the rest.
BLADE: Is it sort of like driving a rental car and you can’t figure out how to turn the wipers on?
HOULIHAN: Sort of. I have that problem in rental cars all the time. It can be scary but exciting.
BLADE: Do you have a favorite organ builder or company?
Christopher Houlihan. (Photo by Ali Winberry; courtesy Classical Music Communications)
HOULIHAN: No, but I have a soft spot for Austin because I’ve played a lot of them and the first organ I had lessons on was an Austin.
BLADE: Do you play from memory?
HOULIHAN: For the most part. … It’s a lot harder to change registrations if I have to read the music too.
BLADE: Does it come naturally as you practice or is memorizing a significant part of the rehearsal process?
HOULIHAN: It’s never a skill that came naturally. I had to develop it, but it’s part of the learning process. … I find once I internalize the piece that way, I’m able to digest it better.
BLADE: Isn’t the thought of blanking out terrifying? I suppose it happens occasionally on the stage for actors.
HOULIHAN: Everyone has those scary moments sometimes but you just deal with it and that’s really the only answer. It can be terrifying, but you move forward and get over it.
BLADE: When you’re playing standard repertoire that so many great organists have played over the years, how do you bring something new to it or do you think in those terms?
HOULIHAN: I don’t necessarily try to be different. I just try to be honest to my personality and try to play it like I want to play it. … I just try to listen to my instincts and play it the way I think it should be played. That may be different from other interpretations or very similar, but I just try to be honest to the music and to myself.
BLADE: It seems the gulf is widening between the world of organ music aficionados and the general public. There are obviously folks who are really into it and can geek out and talk ad infinitum, but so many of the media questions asked of organists are stuff like, “How would you describe this for somebody who’s never been to an organ recital before?” I know you’ve had that question. Whereas nobody on ESPN asks pro athletes to describe their event for someone who’s never been to a football or baseball game. Do you feel this is true? If so, why?
The new Austin Organ (Op. 2795) at First Baptist Church of Washington. (Blade photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
HOULIHAN: I think it’s true with classical music in general, not just organ music. I think fewer and fewer people attend churches so they’re hearing less and less organ music. So it becomes something that seems more foreign to the general public.
BLADE: But is the public generally less interested in classical music than it was, say, 50 years ago?
HOULIHAN: I think so, but I have no idea why. When people ask me the “what to expect” question, it makes me feel as if I have to prove it’s something they should care about. I think maybe we have to prove ourselves a bit more than musicians in other fields, but I also think maybe organists overall could do a better job of bringing people in and intriguing them. It’s such an instrument that’s unlike any other instrument. It’s big and epic and you see people getting hooked and drawn in by it all the time. I try to convey that this is different and exciting and something that’s worth giving it a shot. People do end up loving it many times, this happens over and over. But as for how to fill that gap more generally, I don’t know. It’s never gonna be the kind of music that fills stadiums, but it is exciting and can really communicate to your soul, as cliché as that sounds. It’s music that can reach out and communicate in a very deep way. I try to reach people to their core and move them somehow. That’s what music does for me.
BLADE: Did you decide to be out at the beginning of your career or was it just a natural outgrowth of your personal life?
HOULIHAN: I came out in high school to my friends and family. It’s not really a big part of my musical public personality but it’s who I am. It’s never been a problem.
BLADE: Are you in a relationship now?
HOULIHAN: No.
BLADE: With movie and TV performers, there’s a huge degree of interest in who’s sleeping with whom, yet in classical music it swings to the other extreme where it’s treated as a non-issue, but sometimes so much so that it seems kind of disingenuous. Why?
HOULIHAN: Right. I think maybe there should be a bit more conversation about that. I think it would make it seem much less like what we’re doing is so elitist or something. I think a bit more talk about that sort of thing or excitement about people’s lives could be a positive development. I think it would make us seem more interesting to the general public like we’re not just these old farts, we are interesting people. And of course the organ world is very gay and there are lots of gay people involved. It’s never been a thing for me. I’m out and there’s never been any reason not to be.
a&e features
Queer highlights of the 2026 Critics Choice Awards: Aunt Gladys, that ‘Heated Rivalry’ shoutout and more
Amy Madigan’s win in the supporting actress category puts her in serious contention to win the Oscar for ‘Weapons’
From Chelsea Handler shouting out Heated Rivalry in her opening monologue to Amy Madigan proving that horror performances can (and should) be taken seriously, the Critics Choice Awards provided plenty of iconic moments for queer movie fans to celebrate on the long road to Oscar night.
Handler kicked off the ceremony by recapping the biggest moments in pop culture last year, from Wicked: For Good to Sinners. She also made room to joke about the surprise hit TV sensation on everyone’s minds: “Shoutout to Heated Rivalry. Everyone loves it! Gay men love it, women love it, straight men who say they aren’t gay but work out at Equinox love it!”
The back-to-back wins for Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein and Amy Madigan in Weapons are notable, given the horror bias that awards voters typically have. Aunt Gladys instantly became a pop culture phenomenon within the LGBTQ+ community when Zach Cregger’s hit horror comedy released in August, but the thought that Madigan could be a serious awards contender for such a fun, out-there performance seemed improbable to most months ago. Now, considering the sheer amount of critics’ attention she’s received over the past month, there’s no denying she’s in the running for the Oscar.
“I really wasn’t expecting all of this because I thought people would like the movie, and I thought people would dig Gladys, but you love Gladys! I mean, it’s crazy,” Madigan said during her acceptance speech. “I get [sent] makeup tutorials and paintings. I even got one weird thing about how she’s a sex icon also, which I didn’t go too deep into that one.”
Over on the TV side, Rhea Seehorn won in the incredibly competitive best actress in a drama series category for her acclaimed performance as Carol in Pluribus, beating out the likes of Emmy winner Britt Lower for Severance, Carrie Coon for The White Lotus, and Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us. Pluribus, which was created by Breaking Bad’s showrunner Vince Gilligan, has been celebrated by audiences for its rich exploration of queer trauma and conversion therapy.
Jean Smart was Hack’s only win of the night, as Hannah Einbinder couldn’t repeat her Emmy victory in the supporting actress in a comedy series category against Janelle James, who nabbed a trophy for Abbott Elementary. Hacks lost the best comedy series award to The Studio, as it did at the Emmys in September. And in the limited series category, Erin Doherty repeated her Emmy success in supporting actress, joining in yet another Adolescence awards sweep.
As Oscar fans speculate on what these Critics Choice wins mean for future ceremonies, we have next week’s Golden Globes ceremony to look forward to on Jan. 11.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
It’s been a year filled with drama and music, re-imaginings and new works. There was a lot on offer in 2025, and much to enjoy. Here are 10 now-closed productions that come to mind.
On Valentine’s Day at Folger Theatre on Capitol Hill, out actor Holly Twyford served as narrator for “The Love Birds” a Folger Consort work that melds medieval music with a world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer Juri Seo and readings from Geoffrey Chaucer’s “A Parlement of Foules”
Standing behind a podium, Twyford beautifully read Chaucer’s words (translated from Middle English and backed by projected slides in the original language), alternating with music played on old and new instruments.
While Mosaic Theater’s “A Case for the Existence of God,” closed in mid-December, it’s proving a production not soon forgotten. Precisely staged by Danilo Gambini, and impressively acted by Lee Orsorio and Jaysen Wright, the soul-searching two hander by out playwright Samuel D. Hunter, tells the story of two men who form an unlikely friendship based on single-fatherhood, a specific sadness, and hope.
The action unfolds in a small office in southern Idaho, where the pair discuss the perplexing terms of a mortgage loan while delving deep into their lives and backgrounds. Nothing is left off the table.
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s spring production of “Uncle Vanya” gave audiences something both fresh yet enduring. Staged by STC’s artistic director Simon Godwin, the production put an impeccably pleasing twist on Russian playwright Anton Chekhov’s classic. It ranks among the very best area productions of the year.
Featuring a topnotch cast led by Hugh Bonneville (TV’s “Downton Abbey”) in the title role, the play was set on an unfinished stage cluttered with costume racks and assorted props, all assembled by crew uniformed in black and actors in street clothes. Throughout the drama tinged with comedy, the actors continued to assist with ever increasingly period set changes accompanied by an underscore of melancholic cello strings. It was innovative and wonderful.
GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production of Manuel Puig’s “Kiss of the Spider Woman” was an intimate and affecting piece of theater. Staged by José Luis Arellano, it starred out actors Rodrigo Pedreira and Martín Ruiz as two very different men whose paths cross as convicts in an Argentine prison.
Arena Stage scored with a re-imagined and updated take on the widely liked musical “Damn Yankees.” Directed by Sergio Trujillo, the Broadway bound production has been “gently re-tooled for its first major revival in the 21st century,” moving the action from the struggling Washington Senators baseball team to the turn-of-the-century Yankees lineup. Ana Villafañe’s charmingly seductive Lola and a chorus of fit ball players made for a good time.
Also at Arena, out playwright Reggie D. White’s new work “Fremont Ave.” was very well received. A semi-autobiographical glimpse into home and the many definitions of that idea specifically relating to three generations of Black men, the work boasts a third act with a deeply queer storyline to boot.
Before his smash hit “Hamilton” transformed Broadway, Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote “In the Heights,” a seminal musical set against the vicissitudes of an upper Manhattan bodega. Infused with hip-hop, rap, and pop ballads, the romance/dramedy takes place over a lively few days in the vibrant, close-knit Latin neighborhood, Washington Heights.
Signature Theatre’s exciting take on “In the Heights” featured a talented cast including out actor Ángel Lozado as the bodega owner who figures prominently in the barrio and the action.
Studio Theatre’s recent production of lesbian playwright Paula Vogel’s newest work “The Mother Play,” a drama with humor, is about a well put together alcoholic mother and her two gay children living under difficult circumstances in the less glitzy parts of suburban Maryland. With nuanced performances and smart direction, the production was terrific.
Keegan Theatre surpassed expectations with its production of “Lizzie” a punk rock opera about Miss Borden, the fabled axe wielding title character. Performed by a super all-female cast, they belted a score that hits hard on subjects like money, queerness, and strained (to say the least) family relationships.
Round House Theatre impressed autumn audiences with “The Inheritance,” a two-part drama sensitively staged by out director Tom Story and acted by a mostly queer cast that included young actor Jordi Bertrán Ramírez in a breakout performance.
Penned by out playwright Matthew López, the epic work inspired by E.M. Forster’s novel “Howards End,” explores themes of love, legacy, and the AIDS crisis through the lives of three generations of gay men in New York City.
Prior to opening, Story commented that with the production’s predominately queer cast you get actors who “really understand the situation, the humor, and the struggle. It works well.” And he was right.
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