Category Archives: Music
Traditional Instruments Reimagined Review
Edward Forstman at ArtsBHAM reviewed my recent concert with Matt Bryant at the Hoover Library Theater.
Part of the magic of Holland Hopson’s performances lies in the mystery of just how much he has planned out beforehand and what’s being extemporized. He is a rapt listener to his own performances, nuancing each refrain’s iteration with distinctive stresses, pitch bends, additions, and deletions. He began with a piece he used on the BAMA DIY concert reviewed in August, and yet it came off as freshly conceived and decidedly different, as if he’d made it up on the spot.
His set consisted of eight songs. Highlights included Hopson’s intense lament of forbidden queer love, the ballad “Laurel Cove,” and his hazy and weary “Over Yonder’s Ocean,” which yearned for a beautiful heaven “where the sun swings lowest over yonder’s ocean.” Hopson’s vocals were resonant and full of character. He offered his audience a warm, joking presence in between songs and was a consummate storyteller throughout.
Read the entire review here.
No Mule
Metronome Quartet
Happy to share this great performance of my Quartet 60x88x120x208 by Iron Giant Percussion.
Hoover Library with Matt Bryant: Banjo + Uke + Electronics
Tomorrow I play a free concert at the Hoover Library Theatre with Matt Bryant in a performance billed as Traditional Instruments Reimagined. I’ll perform a song-based set of music for banjo and live electronics. Part of the performance will be on my newest instrument – a custom electric guitar/banjo hybrid built for me by Jefferson Pitcher of Pitcher Guitars. (More about the instrument later…)
Matt Bryant performs on ukulele and electronics. I heard him give a blazing performance at the Spring Street Firehouse in May. I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Thursday October 6, 6:30pm
Hoover Library Theater
200 Municipal Drive
Hoover AL 35216
Free
The Hoover Library Theatre’s main stage is being renovated, so this event will be in the upstairs venue.
Comes and Goes Returns
On Thursday I’ll be performing my work Comes and Goes with Andrew Dewar, Wendy Richman and Geni Skendo during the opening concert of the third Birmingham New Music Festival. Andrew and I will perform with electronics (modular synth and Max, respectively) while Wendy plays viola and Geni performs on various flutes. We worked up a wonderful blend of sounds during rehearsal last weekend; I think this is going to be a special performance.
Comes and Goes was written for Gates Ensemble and first performed in Austin, TX in 2007. My memory of the performance is a bit hazy. On the day of the show I was packing for a move from Austin to Albany, NY and gashed open the bottom of my foot. After stitches and pain meds, I somehow joined the other musicians on stage to perform with my foot elevated on a nearby chair. The piece is for four or more musicians performing on electronic and/or acoustic instruments. Each movement explores a specific set of sounds derived from the technique of amplitude modulation. Download the score for Comes and Goes.
I’ll also be performing on banjo and electronics with Geni Skendo for two of his compositions.
Thursday 9/22 7:30pm
Birmingham New Music Festival
UAB Hulsey Recital Hall
950 13th Street South
Birmingham, AL 35294
Free
DIY Concert Review
Edward Forstman reviewed the BAMA DIY concert for ArtsBham writing:
And, a new and wonderful discovery for this reviewer, Holland Hopson set his haunting vocals about a desolate landscape with “no road lead[ing] straight home” against layers of clawhammer banjo woven together via computer processing and a foot pedal.
BAMA DIY & DIT
Tomorrow I’ll be joining friends in the Birmingham Art Music Alliance for a DIY Composers Concert featuring composer/performers playing their own compositions. I’ll be performing music for banjo, live electronics and voice. Also on the program are Raphael Crystal and Gaines Brake, Monroe Golden, Kenneth Kuhn, Kyle McGucken and area newcomer Geni Skendo.
Tuesday August 9 7pm
BAMA “DIY” Concert
Unitarian Universalist Church of Birmingham
4300 Hampton Heights Dr
Birmingham AL 35209
DIY = Do It Yourself, of course
DIT = Do It Together (and in this case, Do It Tuesday)
LA Reviews of “Elevators”
Here are two reviews of Aron Kallay‘s recent performance of A History of Elevators in Film at the MicroFest Beyond 12 concert in Los Angeles. The first is by Paul Muller in Sequenza21 who calls the work
“…an engaging and highly musical work that presents a remarkable variety of moods and colors.”
The second is by Steven Niles in New Classic LA who writes
“The History of Elevators in Film, by Birmingham composer Holland Hopson, depicted the sensory experience of riding in elevators with virtuoso compositional prowess.”
A History of Elevators in Film at Monk Space
On Tuesday Aron Kallay and Andrew McIntosh will present Beyond 12 – Piano and Violin at Monk Space in Los Angeles. The concert is a co-presentation between MicroFestLA and Tuesdays @ Monk Space. Aron will perform my piece A History of Elevators in Film for 88-key controller and computer.
Tuesday June 28 8pm
Beyond 12 – Piano and Violin
Aron Kallay and Andrew McIntosh
Monk Space
4414 West 2nd St.
Los Angeles CA 90004
I wrote A History of Elevators in Film for Aron’s Beyond 12 tour of the Southeast last spring. The piece uses a virtual piano that is retuned on the fly based on choices made by the performer. Below is the complete program for the concert. I wish I were on the other side of the continent next week to hear it.
Kyle Gann – Fugitive Objects
Marc Sabat – Intonation after Morton Feldman I, from Les Duresses
Eric Moe – The Weasel of Melancholy
Johann Joseph Vilsmayr – Partita IV, from Six Partitas
Holland Hopson – A History of Elevators in Film
Marc Sabat – Two Commas, from Les Duresses
Alex Miller – The Blur of Time and Memory