The term “summer camp” will take on a whole new meaning for Andrea Priester Houde when she takes up a post on the faculty at one of the nation’s premiere arts academies.

Houde, assistant professor of viola in the West Virginia University School of Music, will teach at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan this summer.

“This is one of, if not the most important pre-college summer arts institution in the country, with the finest pre-college musicians,’ Houde said. “Many of these students end up going to the top universities and conservatories in the United States.”

In fact, Interlochen has taught 43 Presidential Scholars, 17 percent of the musicians in the nation’s major orchestras, and 11 MacArthur Grant recipients. Its alumni have received 124 Grammy Awards and 26 Tony Awards.

This will be a return to Interlochen for Houde, who spent a summer there as a college student working as a practice supervisor.

She was taking a break from performing after an injury and had decided to spend the summer pursuing her other passion, teaching.

“Even back then, it was always on my wish list to come back as an official faculty member,” she said. “It’s such a dream to think that I will be on the faculty.”

Houde will be teaching viola and chamber music and performing with world-class colleagues. She’ll also join some familiar faces on the viola faculty.

“Several of the viola faculty are also my teachers, which is such an honor,” she said. Interlochen’s viola faculty include scholars from the Cleveland Institute of Music and performers who have played with the Metropolitan Opera and Cleveland Orchestra.

“This is exciting on so many levels, but maybe most important is the fact that I’ll get the chance to be an ambassador for WVU to all of these amazing young musicians, and to my fellow faculty,” Houde said. “I’m really looking forward to representing the School of Music to this elite group of artists.”

After her time in Interlochen in June and early July, Houde will finish out the summer at the Master Players Festival in Delaware, where she’ll play with some of the finest musicians from around the world.

With so much playing and teaching on the agenda for the summer, Houde suspects she’ll come back to Morgantown “invigorated and inspired.”

-WVU-

dw/5/2/16

CONTACT: David Welsh, WVU College of Creative Arts
304.293.3397; David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.