Mark Houghton

Described by Classical Guitar Magazine as ‘an outstanding guitarist/composer’ Mark Houghton was born in Liverpool in 1959 and began playing guitar at the age of seven.

From 1988, Mark studied Classical Guitar with Stanley Yates and received private tuition from Stepan Rak.

In 1997 Mark was awarded Associate Diploma in guitar performance from the London College of Music.

In 2000, at Dillington Summer School, Mark received first prize at the inaugural ‘Chris Kilvington Memorial Prize’ with his ensemble piece ‘Symphonic Dance No.1’.

In 2007 Mark received first prize at the CGML online Composition Competition, hosted in Brazil, with his composition Aurora for flute, clarinet and guitar.

In 2017, Mark was amongst several composers tasked with arranging the complete music written by King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand.

In 2019, Mark’s composition ‘Memories of Siam’ for solo guitar received second prize in the ISAN International Guitar Festival, Korat, Thailand.

Mark is author of three articles published in ‘Classical Guitar’ and was commissioned to write a guitar ensemble piece (‘Latin Nights’) for the GFA publication, ‘Soundboard.’ His music has been performed at many Guitar Foundation of America conventions.

Mark has approximately 120 publications with seven publishers, worldwide.