Tag Archives: Banjo

Live From My Living Room

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Tune in Thursday August 13 at 7:00pm CST for Live From My Living Room with Holland Hopson presented by the Hoover Library in Hoover, Alabama. I’ll perform new works and improvisations for a custom electric guitar/banjo hybrid instrument built by the amazing Jefferson Pitcher. I may also give a sneak preview of a some visualization software I’ve been developing. Check out the entire Live From My Room video series on YouTube.

The Hoover Library has a long history of presenting great concerts. I played there in person (how quaint!) in 2016, and have had my pieces played there by pianist Aron Kallay and the percussion group Iron Giant. Here’s a video of Iron Giant playing my Quartet 60x880120x208 for four metronomes:

Here’s the info for Thursday’s concert:

Appointment Reminder: Drunk Doctor at Proper Saké on Friday

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Looking forward to trying the Nigori saké at Proper Saké in Nashville Friday night when I play a solo set for banjo and electronics. FMRL is presenting the event which also features Drunk Doctor. Nigori seems about right: unfiltered, slightly cloudy, a touch more texture…

Friday February 28 7:00pm
FMRL: Holland Hopson/Drunk Doctor
Proper Saké
628 Ewing Ave
Nashville TN 37203

Gravity Pulling at Barking Legs Tonight

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I’m playing at Barking Legs in Chattanooga tonight in an event co-hosted by the Shaking Ray Levi Society. I haven’t been there since 2001 with James Keepnews, so it’ll be great to return.

Sunday October 7 7:30pm
Barking Legs Theater
1307 Dodds Avenue
Chattanooga TN

Along with playing some solo music for banjo and electronics, I’ll be collaborating with dancers and improvisers on a piece with video similar to the image above. I created the video my modeling the behavior of particles interacting with gravity using Processing. After the concert will be a short demo of my sensor-augmented banjo.

Facebook event

Previews articles:
Times Free Press
Chattanoogan

l’Artiste Ordinaire, Tim Feeney, Holland Hopson at Gin Palace House Concert

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Tomorrow I’ll be playing a house concert in the newly christened Gin Palace. I’ll perform a solo set for banjos with electronics, and Tim Feeney will play solo percussion. Special guests l’Artiste Ordinaire (Melissa Grey, David Morneau) will perform their work Photon Ecstasy.

October 10 8:00pm
House Concert with
l’Artiste Ordinaire (Melissa Grey, David Morneau), Tim Feeney, Holland Hopson
2120 6th Street
Tuscaloosa AL

Traditional Instruments Reimagined Review

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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.

Hoover Library with Matt Bryant: Banjo + Uke + Electronics

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imageTomorrow 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

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comes-and-goes

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

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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.