Member bio
A native of Longview, Texas, Austin Aldrich, né Ferguson, studied carillon with Lynnette Geary, University Carillonneur at Baylor University. As a student at The University of Texas at Austin, he led the UT carillon program from 2011-2015, playing daily recitals on the Kniker Carillon and providing student carillon instruction. He graduated with a B.A. in music theory in May of 2015 and is currently pursuing an M.S. in medical and health humanities through The Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science.
In February of 2017, Austin was named the fourth Clinic Carillonneur of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, 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 an annual music commission, composition contests, a summer recital series, livestreamed recitals, and a triannual study intensive for carillon students.
A Carillonneur member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, Austin sits on the Heritage Music, Legal, Nominations, 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, finishing his term in June of 2023, before completing one term as Corresponding Secretary from 2023-2024.
Outside of sharing music through “the people’s instrument,” he keeps busy as Staff Accompanist at First Unitarian Universalist Church of Rochester and teaching a full piano studio.
