A native of Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland’s works have been commissioned and performed by orchestras and chamber ensembles across America. Most recently, he served as Composer-In-Residence with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra—the first composer to serve that role with the orchestra. Highlights of recent seasons include a commission by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum inspired by John Singer Sargent’s dance-inspired painting, “El Jaleo”; and the premiere of his orchestration of songs by Charles Ives with mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton and the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall. Other recent and upcoming performances will feature the Aeolus Quartet with the Arx Duo, Hotel Elefant, the Neave Trio, and more.

 

Other notable highlights from recent seasons include the premiere of his work Ode by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, his fifth work for the orchestra, following the initial commission in 2003 of Halcyon Sun, written to celebrate the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; the release of Synchrony, a powerful classical music statement on Black Lives Matter on Radius Ensemble’s Fresh Paint CD; the commission of Equality for narrator and orchestra by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra featuring the poetry of Maya Angelou with narration by actor Regina Taylor and rapper/actor Common; and the premiere of Forged Sanctuaries by Curtis on Tour, commissioned to commemorate the centennial of National Park Service. His piece Clarity of Cold Air has been performed on tour this past season by Eighth Blackbird.

 

A winner of a Mass Cultural Council artist fellowship, Holland is also a recipient of a Fromm Foundation Commission at Harvard University. He has received honors from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota (currently Vocal Essence); Ritz Chamber Players; Detroit and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; and the Radius Ensemble. His music has been recorded by Cincinnati Symphony, the University of Texas Trombone Choir trumpeter Jack Sutte; and flutist Christopher Chaffee, pianist Sarah Bob, and more. His work Rebounds will be featured on Transient Canvas’s upcoming release “Right now, in a second”.

 

His works have been commissioned and performed by numerous ensembles across America, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Dallas, and Detroit Symphony Orchestras, among others. During the 20/21 season his music will be performances and streamed by Hotel Elefant, Tribeca New Music Festival, the Neave Trio, New World Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Oberlin Sinfonietta and Contemporary Music Ensemble, Radius Ensemble, and more. In addition his work has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today, and on Rob McClure’s podcast Lexical Tones. Holland earned a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University and studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music. He is Chair of Composition, Contemporary Music, and Core Studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Founding Faculty of the Music Composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

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Learn more at www.jonathanbaileyholland.com

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