John Holloway (musician)
Encyclopedia
John Holloway is a British baroque violinist and conductor
, currently based in Dresden
, Germany
. John Holloway is a pioneer of the early music
movement.
Holloway studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London
. After initial engagements, including at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
and at the English Chamber Orchestra
, he was the manager and concertmaster
of the Kent Opera Orchestra
in the 1970s. After an encounter with Sigiswald Kuijken
in 1972, he started playing the Baroque violin
next to the modern violin. He devoted himself increasingly to the Baroque violin. Holloway gained a reputation as violinist, teacher and conductor in the field of historically informed performance
.
In 1970 he became the concertmaster of Sir Roger Norrington
's London Classical Players
and later Andrew Parrott
's Taverner Consort and Players
. Currently he plays with all the major baroque orchestras in the world and is in demand as a musicologist and lecturer.
He has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and in the Early Music Institute of Indiana University in Bloomington. He has given classes and led workshops in most European countries, as well as in Korea, New Zealand and the USA. In 2004 he was Regents’ Lecturer at UC Berkeley. In 1999 he received a teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber"
in Dresden
.
Between 2003 and 2005, Holloway was the musical director of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and between 2005 and 2006 he was the concertmaster and music director
of a period instrument ensemble and orchestra, New Trinity Baroque
.
In 2005 he founded jointly with the Belgian conductor and harpsichordist Florian Heyerick and a music agent, the Mannheimer Hofkapelle, which in the summer of 2007 could be heard for the first time in 300 years with its original composition of 40 musicians. Since 2006 he has been artistic director of the international violin competition and master class
Violine in Dresden.
in 1991 for his recording of Biber
's Mystery Sonatas. He won two Danish Grammy Awards for his recordings of the chamber music
and vocal music of Dieterich Buxtehude
(1994 and 1997). His CD recordings of the Rosary Sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Biber
and of Sonatas Opus 5 of Jean-Marie Leclair
won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik
("German Record Critics' Award"). He has recorded Bach
's sonatas and partitas for solo violin.. In addition to recordings of The Four Seasons
and L'estro Armonico
by Antonio Vivaldi
, he recorded the complete chamber works of Georg Friedrich Händel, with the ensemble L'Ecole d'Orphée that he founded in 1975.
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, currently based in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. John Holloway is a pioneer of the early music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
movement.
Holloway studied in London at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. After initial engagements, including at the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra, based in London.Sir Neville Marriner founded the ensemble as The Academy of St.-Martin-in-the-Fields in London as a small, conductorless string group. The ensemble's name comes from Trafalgar Square's St Martin-in-the-Fields...
and at the English Chamber Orchestra
English Chamber Orchestra
The English Chamber Orchestra is a British chamber orchestra based in London. The full orchestra regularly plays concerts at Cadogan Hall, and the ECO Ensemble performs at Wigmore Hall...
, he was the manager and concertmaster
Concertmaster
The concertmaster/mistress is the spalla or leader, of the first violin section of an orchestra. In the UK, the term commonly used is leader...
of the Kent Opera Orchestra
Kent Opera
Kent Opera was a British opera company in the period 1969-1989. Based in Ashford, England the Company presented its productions in several centres mainly in the southern part of England. These included The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, the Assembly Halls, Tunbridge Wells, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury,...
in the 1970s. After an encounter with Sigiswald Kuijken
Sigiswald Kuijken
Sigiswald Kuijken is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on authentic instruments.-Biography:Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble of Brussels between 1964 and 1972 and formed La Petite Bande in 1972...
in 1972, he started playing the Baroque violin
Baroque violin
A baroque violin is, in common usage, any violin whose neck, fingerboard, bridge, and tailpiece are of the type used during the baroque period. Such an instrument may be an original built during the baroque and never changed to modern form; or a modern replica built as a baroque violin; or an...
next to the modern violin. He devoted himself increasingly to the Baroque violin. Holloway gained a reputation as violinist, teacher and conductor in the field of historically informed performance
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance is an approach in the performance of music and theater. Within this approach, the performance adheres to state-of-the-art knowledge of the aesthetic criteria of the period in which the music or theatre work was conceived...
.
In 1970 he became the concertmaster of Sir Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
's London Classical Players
London Classical Players
The London Classical Players was a British orchestra that specialized in music following historically informed performance practices and orchestral performances on period musical instruments. Sir Roger Norrington founded the LCP in 1978. From 1978 to 1992, the concertmaster of the London...
and later Andrew Parrott
Andrew Parrott
Andrew Parrott is a British conductor, perhaps best known for his pioneering historically informed performances of pre-classical music. He conducts a wide range of repertoire, including contemporary music. He conducted the premiere of Judith Weir's A Night at the Chinese Opera...
's Taverner Consort and Players
Taverner Consort and Players
Taverner Consort and Players is a period instrument ensemble: baroque orchestra , vocal consort and Choir, named after the 16th century English composer John Taverner....
. Currently he plays with all the major baroque orchestras in the world and is in demand as a musicologist and lecturer.
He has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and in the Early Music Institute of Indiana University in Bloomington. He has given classes and led workshops in most European countries, as well as in Korea, New Zealand and the USA. In 2004 he was Regents’ Lecturer at UC Berkeley. In 1999 he received a teaching position at the Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber"
Hochschule für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber"
The "Carl Maria von Weber" College of Music is a college of music in Dresden, Germany.- History :...
in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
.
Between 2003 and 2005, Holloway was the musical director of the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and between 2005 and 2006 he was the concertmaster and music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
of a period instrument ensemble and orchestra, New Trinity Baroque
New Trinity Baroque
New Trinity Baroque is an orchestra with an associated chamber choir, specialised in baroque music played on period instruments. It was founded in 1998 in London but is now based in Atlanta, USA...
.
In 2005 he founded jointly with the Belgian conductor and harpsichordist Florian Heyerick and a music agent, the Mannheimer Hofkapelle, which in the summer of 2007 could be heard for the first time in 300 years with its original composition of 40 musicians. Since 2006 he has been artistic director of the international violin competition and master class
Master class
A master class is a class given to students of a particular discipline by an expert of that discipline—usually music, but also painting, drama, or any of the arts....
Violine in Dresden.
Recordings
John Holloway has appeared on more than 100 CD recordings, and is the winner of a Gramophone AwardGramophone Award
The Gramophone Awards are one of the most significant honours bestowed on recordings in the classical record industry, often referred to as the Oscars for classical music. The winners are selected annually by critics for the Gramophone magazine and various members of the industry, including...
in 1991 for his recording of Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Born in the small Bohemian town of Wartenberg , Biber worked at Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his Kroměříž employer and settled in Salzburg...
's Mystery Sonatas. He won two Danish Grammy Awards for his recordings of the chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and vocal music of Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude
Dieterich Buxtehude was a German-Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period. His organ works represent a central part of the standard organ repertoire and are frequently performed at recitals and in church services...
(1994 and 1997). His CD recordings of the Rosary Sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Biber
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber von Bibern was a Bohemian-Austrian composer and violinist. Born in the small Bohemian town of Wartenberg , Biber worked at Graz and Kroměříž before he illegally left his Kroměříž employer and settled in Salzburg...
and of Sonatas Opus 5 of Jean-Marie Leclair
Jean-Marie Leclair
Jean-Marie Leclair l'aîné, also known as Jean-Marie Leclair the Elder, was a Baroque violinist and composer. He is considered to have founded the French violin school...
won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik
The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik is an annual prize presented for achievement in recorded music.It was inaugurated in Germany in 1963 by publisher Richard Kaselowsky with the aim of recognizing the "most rigorous standards for supreme achievement" in the field of recording.The awards...
("German Record Critics' Award"). He has recorded Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's sonatas and partitas for solo violin.. In addition to recordings of The Four Seasons
The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)
The Four Seasons is a set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi. Composed in 1723, The Four Seasons is Vivaldi's best-known work, and is among the most popular pieces of Baroque music. The texture of each concerto is varied, each resembling its respective season...
and L'estro Armonico
L'estro Armonico
L'Estro Armonico, Op. 3, is a collection of twelve concertos for 1, 2 and 4 violins written by Antonio Vivaldi in 1711. It largely augmented the reputation of Vivaldi as Il Prete Rosso;...
by Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
, he recorded the complete chamber works of Georg Friedrich Händel, with the ensemble L'Ecole d'Orphée that he founded in 1975.