Holmes, Jeffrey
Biography
Born:
Country: U.S.A.
Studies: San Francisco Conservatory of Music; University of Southern California
Teachers: Georg Friedrich Haas, Donald Crockett, Stephen Hartke
Website: http://www.holmescomposer.com/
The music of composer Jeffrey Holmes has been called “Captivating…haunting and slightly disorienting” by the Los Angeles Times, “Drifting…ethereal” by the San Francisco Classical Voice, and “Interesting and musically arresting, music to be really heard and deserving of reflection” by the Society of Composers, INC. As a traditionalist, he composes music for acoustic orchestral instruments, using standard notational methods; as a formalist, he works within a complex and unique diatonic, chromatic, and microtonal language; as a transcendentalist, he combines the inherent abstraction of sound with a greater meaning and possibility of interpretation through the use of lyricism and overt expression.
His music has been performed at festivals such as the Darmstadt Ferienkurs für Neue Musik (Germany), June in Buffalo (New York), Etchings Festival in Maulin a Nef, Auvillar (France), La Pietra Forum for New Music (Florence, Italy), at MicroFest (2003, 2005, and 2011) and both the HEAR NOW and “What’s Next?” festivals (Los Angeles), and in venues including Carnegie Hall (New York), the Historic Dvorak Museum (Prague, Czech Republic), and the Chapelle historique de Bon-Pasteur (Montreal, Canada). He has received commissions and performances from groups including the Penderecki String Quartet, Bass-baritone Nicholas Isherwood (Germany), Ensemble Sound Initiative (Paris, France), the JACK Quartet, ECCE - East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, “Duo Resonances” - France (Frédérique Luzy and Pierre Bibault), Piano Spheres, the Eclipse String Quartet, Trio Terroir, California Institute of the Arts Orchestra, USC Thornton Symphony, Xtet, Inauthentica, Duo Amantis, and others.
He holds a doctorate in music composition from the University of Southern California, and has studied with composers such as Georg Friedrich Haas, Donald Crockett and Stephen Hartke. Currently, he is Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at Chapman University. His music is published by Edition Svitzer (Copenhagen, Denmark), Doberman-Yppan (Quebec, Canada), and J.W. Pepper (USA), and has been recorded on the Sono Luminus label, distributed worldwide by Naxos.[1]
Works for Percussion
“Nereus” Sonata - Marimba
Occasus - Percussion Quartet
Rays of Twilight - Percussion Quartet; 2 harps (tuned in 1/6 tones)
Stormbringer - Multiple Percussion
References