Member bio
A native of Longview, Texas, Austin Ferguson studied carillon with Lynnette Geary, University Carillonneur at Baylor University. From 2011-2015, he led the student carillon program at The University of Texas at Austin, playing daily recitals on the Kniker Carillon and providing student carillon instruction. He graduated from UT in 2015 with a BA in music theory and a minor in government.
In February of 2017, Austin was named the fourth Carillonneur of Mayo Clinic, where he plays ten weekly recitals on the 1928 Rochester Carillon, the only carillon in North America owned by a medical center. Under his tenure, the carillon program at Mayo has expanded to include such programs as an annual music commission, composition contests, a summer recital series, livestream-broadcasted recitals, and a weeklong performance/study intensive for carillon students.
A Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, Austin sits on the Heritage Music, Legal, Nominations, Warner Arrangements and Transcriptions Contest, and Ronald Barnes Memorial Grant committees and served as Co-Editor of "Carillon News", the Guild’s newsletter, from 2014-2024. He was elected to a seat on the Guild’s Board of Directors in 2020 and finished his term in June 2023 before completing one term as Corresponding Secretary from 2023-2024.
In addition to his work at Mayo, Austin keeps busy as Staff Accompanist at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Rochester and teaching a full piano studio.
