Aralee Dorough began her tenure with the Houston Symphony as second flute in 1985, becoming the orchestra’s principal flutist in 1991. Dorough teaches orchestral repertoire at the Texas Music Festival and the Festival-Institute at Round Top, and is an Affiliate Artist on the faculty of the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston.
She first appeared as a soloist with the Houston Symphony performing Mozart's Concerto in C major for Flute, Harp and Orchestra with internationally-renowned harpist, Marisa Robles and led by then-Music Director, Christoph Eschenbach for the 1992-1993 season Opening Night Gala concert. Dorough performed Mozart’s concerto in G major with Eschenbach and the orchestra in 1993 for a triple CD set released by IMP Records in1994, and again in concert in 2004 under current Houston Symphony Music Director, Hans Graf. Her performance of the third, very popular D major flute concerto completes her personal “Mozart cycle.”
Dorough gave the world premiere of Bright Sheng’s concerto, Flute Moon (1999), which was commissioned by the Houston Symphony and presented at a gala concert broadcast live on PBS. In 2003, she gave the U.S. premiere of a Salvador Brotons concerto, which Brotons himself conducting for the National Flute Association Convention. In 2006, Dorough and Houston Symphony colleagues presented the premiere of a chamber work by composer Gabriela Frank on a collaborative program between the Houston Symphony and the Da Camara Society. Other solo appearances with the Symphony have included Quantz’ Concerto in G major with conductor Nicholas McGegan and Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 with conductor, Joshua Rifkin and violinist, Eric Halen.
An avid chamber music and contemporary music performer, Dorough has played with the Houston Symphony Chamber Players, whose recording og Schoenberg’s Quintet for Winds on the Koch label has met with critical acclaim; the Da Camera Society of Houston; The Foundation for Modern Music; Musiqa; the Festival-Institute at Round Top; and in Europe, Japan and at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival in a collaboration with Christoph Eschenbach at the piano. She can be heard on over 20 Houston Symphony recordings and in performances aired on PBS and NPR’s Performance Today. She has worked with a distinguished roster of conductors and guest artists, including Eric Leinsdorf, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin and Yo Yo Ma.
She has also collaborated with her father—jazz artist and Schoolhouse Rock composer—Bob Dorough on 2005’s The Houston Branch CD project, now available at cdbaby.com. The album features Dorough along with her husband, her father and three of Houston’s top jazz musicians performing standard tunes and her father’s originals, including one of her own compositions. Because of her father, Dorough has been peripherally involved with jazz and studio work throughout her career, including a speaking part on “My Hero Zero” for ABC TV’s Schoolhouse Rock at age nine.
Dorough received her undergraduate degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1983), where she studied with master teacher Robert Willoughby and met her future husband, Houston Symphony oboist Colin Gatwood. She continued her studies as a graduate student at the Yale School of Music where she worked with a renowned teacher, the late Thomas Nyfenger.
Along with their son, Corin, Dorough and her husband enjoy traveling, most recently on the Houston Symphony's The Planets—An HD Odyssey tour to the UK. This summer, they will participate in the Walled City Music Festival (Derry, Ireland).
