Dr. Linda R. Moorhouse

Biography

Dr. Linda R. Moorhouse, Suzanne and William Allen Distinguished Professor in Music, recently completed a multi-year term as Director of the School of Music at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She joined the School of Music in fall 2010 and continues to contribute to the university community through her service as Vice-Chair of the University Senates Conference, a member of the Athletic Board, and a member of the University of Illinois System-wide Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Council. She previously served for eight years as the School’s Associate Director and Director of Undergraduate Studies and, before that, led the University Bands program within the School of Music. She was also a Fellow in the University of Illinois President’s Executive Leadership Program (2025–26) and the Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program (2020–21).

An active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Moorhouse has earned national and international recognition for her work as a musical leader and educator. Concert ensembles under her direction at two Research I universities have been featured at regional and national conferences of the College Band Directors National Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance International Conference, and the American Bandmasters Association.

Moorhouse has a distinguished record of leadership and service to the band profession. She is a past president and currently serves as Secretary-Treasurer of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. She is also a past president, former editor of NBA Journal, and former executive secretary of the National Band Association, the largest professional organization dedicated to bands. She currently serves the NBA as project chair of the Young Composer-Conductor Mentor Project. Her leadership in Women Band Directors International includes prior service as president and editor of The Woman Conductor. She has been honored by the organization with its Silver Baton and International Golden Rose awards for outstanding leadership and service to the music profession.

Her many professional honors reflect the breadth and impact of her contributions to music. Moorhouse was honored as a Member Laureate, a designation of international distinction, by Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional fraternity for women in music. She is also a recipient of the Diploma of the Sudler Order of Merit from the John Philip Sousa Foundation, recognizing extraordinary service to the music community. The National Band Association has recognized her contributions on numerous occasions through its Citation of Excellence and Distinguished Service Award and by her election to the Academy of Wind and Percussion Arts (AWAPA), widely regarded as the “Oscar” of the band world. Additional honors include the Tau Beta Sigma Paula Crider Outstanding Band Director Award; the Outstanding Band Director Award from the Louisiana chapter of Phi Beta Mu; membership in the VIP community within the Division of Education at Conn-Selmer, Inc.; and recognition in Grove Music Online.

Moorhouse’s scholarly and professional contributions also include numerous publications. Her research and commentary appear in multiple volumes of Composer’s Insight—Thoughts, Analysis and Commentary on Contemporary Masterpieces for Wind Band (Meredith Music) and Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (GIA), as well as in other Meredith Music publications.

Her international career includes multiple Western European tours as a conductor with the United States Collegiate Wind Band and service on two jury panels for the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands. She has served as a conducting clinician and conductor with the Wind Ensemble of Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa in Portugal, adjudicated Singapore’s National Youth Music Festival on multiple occasions, and worked as a clinician and adjudicator in Western Australia.

Before joining the University of Illinois School of Music in 2010, Moorhouse served on the faculty of Louisiana State University for more than 20 years, earning both LSU School of Music and university-wide awards for teaching excellence. Under her leadership, the LSU Tiger Marching Band received the Sudler Trophy, widely recognized as the “Heisman Trophy” of college marching bands, and won the 2008 ESPN/Paramount Pictures “Battle of the Bands” competition. She also directed the LSU Summer Music Camps.

Moorhouse earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she studied with Peter Erös and Timothy Salzman. She also earned a Master of Music Education from Louisiana State University and a Bachelor of Music Education with Honors from the University of Florida, where she is a member of the University of Florida Bands Hall of Fame.