PODCAST: Jonathan Bailey Holland

Listen to a two-movement work for flute and piano by Jonathan Bailey Holland, a composition faculty member at both The Boston Conservatory and Berklee.

January 20, 2016

After Berklee and The Boston Conservatory began discussing plans to merge in 2015, it quickly became clear that synergy between the two institutions had been building for many years. Students, faculty, and alumni have often collaborated, and several faculty members can say that they have worked for both Berklee and the Conservatory.

One such example is Jonathan Bailey Holland, who is currently a professor of composition at both institutions. Holland studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music and later received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. His works have been commissioned and performed by the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minnesota, National, Philadelphia, San Antonio, South Bend, and St. Louis symphony orchestras, as well as several other ensembles. He has received honors from the Fromm Foundation, American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has served as composer in residence for several major orchestras and ensembles. He is also a founding faculty member in the low-residency MFA in music composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Recent highlights of his career include the premiere of the symphony Equality for narrator and orchestra—using the poetry of Maya Angelou—for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Listen below to this week's featured podcast selection, Dark Flowers, a two-movement piece written by Holland for the CD Four Prayers, featuring Christopher Chaffee on alto and bass flutes, and Josh Nemith on piano.