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Press Releases
Composer Jonathan Bailey Holland Releases Synchrony, a Classical Music Tribute Acknowledging the Black Lives Matter Movement
Jonathan Bailey Holland's Synchrony is a powerful classical music statement on Black Lives Matter and duality—musical, political, and racial. Synchrony includes brief excerpts from two public speeches by President Barack Obama and actress Cicely Tyson, as well as documentary audio from the arrests of Eric Garner and Sandra Bland. Commissioned and performed by Radius Ensemble (Boston, MA), Synchrony is a quintet for oboe, bassoon, violin, cello and piano, originally composed and premiered in 2015. Synchrony will appear on the ensemble’s new recording, Fresh Paint, to be released on September 1, 2016.
Originally from Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland earned a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University and studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Of composing Synchrony, Holland tells the story of musical and racial duality in the present day. With the advent of technology, and the invasiveness and saturation of social media have brought attention to unjust treatment that is still tolerated and accepted in many ways. He says, “While these issues pervade the news as of late, I, as an African-American composer of classical music, live this duality every day.”
He continues by saying, “The work I composed for the Radius Ensemble is about duality on many levels. I chose the subject matter because the commission for this work came at the same time that Baltimore was reacting to the death of Freddie Gray, who was another in a series of black (mostly male) victims of violence, often by the police. The irony of the need for the Black Lives Matter movement during the second term of our first African-American President was becoming something that I needed to respond to artistically.”
“For Synchrony, I wanted to encapsulate the internal reality of being a black male watching these events in real time. My original intention was to simply write an instrumental work that expressed the idea of simultaneous realities intertwining. As I was writing the work I watched videos of the Eric Garner arrest, the Sandra Bland arrest, and Obama's speeches. I felt all of the emotions that many people feel when watching and hearing these events, and realized that I wanted the intensity of these experiences to be a part of the music, and in turn a part of the experience of listening to the music, without the listener being able to look away or change the channel or turn the music off.”
Jennifer Montbach, the founder of Radius Ensemble in Boston, thought of Holland first when the group was seeking to commission composers for their upcoming recording. She had worked with him in 2013 and gave him complete freedom to compose a piece on any subject. She says, “When Jonathan proposed Synchrony – exploring the concept of duality in music and in his own life – I was intrigued. The result is stunning, and his use of documentary audio fragments is deeply affecting. I think what is most special about the piece is that he makes a powerful statement without being polemical. Synchrony simply presents us with reality and uses music to underscore the contrast between hope and despair.”
Holland composed the work for five instruments and strove to reflect the duality of the music and racial relations in the pairing of the instruments and the way he weaved in the audio fragments. He says, “The duality is reflected in many ways: from the instrumentation and their possible combinations – oboe and bassoon, violin and cello, oboe and cello, violin and bassoon; to musical form and structure – call and response, imitation, repetition; to the external influences – black and white race relations, class relations within and between races, morality vs emotion, double standards of laws and socially accepted behavior, confronting symbols vs confronting ideology.”
Synchrony features four documentary audio clips using actual audio from President Barack Obama’s 2013 Inauguration speech, a recording from a bystander during Eric Garner’s 2014 incident which led to his death, the dash-cam recording from Sandra Bland’s traffic stop, and a speech given by actress Cicely Tyson at the 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards on BET.
A full live recording of the Radius Ensemble performing the work can be heard on YouTube (link below). Jonathan Bailey Holland opens the video (:25) with more background about composing Synchrony, and says the piece “leaves me with a general sense of unease…unresolved…it’s a piece that’s a commentary on the state of being at a particular time.”
Synchrony, performed in 2015 by Radius Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce4ifHYIgys
More info about Synchrony and Radius Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLw39UH3d08
Audio Inclusions:
4:40 Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama "We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity." –President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013
5:15 "I can't breathe" –Eric Garner, July 17, 2014
6:55 "To the young women here tonight, the moment anyone tries to demean or degrade you in any way, you have to know how great you are. No one is going to bother to put you down if you were not a threat to them.” Cicely Tyson, 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards on BET, aired April 5, 2015
7:35, 8:17 Sandra Bland traffic stop
About Jonathan Bailey Holland:
A native of Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland earned a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University and studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music. His works have been commissioned and performed by numerous orchestras, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minnesota, National, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Springfield, St. Louis, and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; as well as the Auros Group for New Music; the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble; Transient Canvas; Boston Opera Collaborative; Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia; Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies; Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra; Orchestra 2001, and many others.
A recipient of a 2015 Fromm Foundation Commission at Harvard University, he has received honors from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota (currently Vocal Essence); Ritz Chamber Players; Detroit and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; and the Radius Ensemble. His music has been recorded by the Cincinnati Symphony; the University of Texas Trombone Choir; trumpeter Jack Sutte; and flutist Christopher Chaffee. Upcoming recording releases are scheduled by the Radius Ensemble, and by pianist Sarah Bob. Recent highlights include the premiere of Equality for narrator and orchestra for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra featuring the poetry Maya Angelou, and the premiere of Forged Sanctuaries by Curtis on Tour, commissioned to commemorate the centennial of National Park Service. Holland is Chair of Composition, Theory and History at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and a founding faculty member in the Music Composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has also served as Professor of Composition at Berklee College of Music.
About Radius Ensemble: Radius Ensemble liberates classical music for a new generation of music lovers with a fresh combination of eclectic programming and intimate performances by extraordinary musicians. Named Boston’s Best Classical Ensemble 2016 by the Improper Bostonian, and winner of a 2013 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, Radius Ensemble’s thoughtfully curated programs balance old and new, with repertoire ranging from beloved masterworks to riveting new music – brilliantly performed by some of the best musicians in Boston. Nine core members comprise Radius Ensemble. They are joined by additional musicians as repertoire warrants.
A chamber music ensemble of winds, strings, and piano, Radius Ensemble was founded in 1999 by oboist and impresario Jennifer Montbach. Radius’s subscription season includes a four-concert series at Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where the group has been Ensemble in Residence since 2011. Committed to community outreach, Radius presents a free Saturday-morning family concert in Harvard Square, and donates free tickets to disadvantaged children and their parents or mentors through local community service agencies.
jonathanbaileyholland.com
radiusensemble.org
Fresh Paint landing page: http://freshpaintcd.com/
Recording Jonathan Holland's Synchrony at WGBH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLw39UH3d08
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Originally from Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland earned a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University and studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music.
Of composing Synchrony, Holland tells the story of musical and racial duality in the present day. With the advent of technology, and the invasiveness and saturation of social media have brought attention to unjust treatment that is still tolerated and accepted in many ways. He says, “While these issues pervade the news as of late, I, as an African-American composer of classical music, live this duality every day.”
He continues by saying, “The work I composed for the Radius Ensemble is about duality on many levels. I chose the subject matter because the commission for this work came at the same time that Baltimore was reacting to the death of Freddie Gray, who was another in a series of black (mostly male) victims of violence, often by the police. The irony of the need for the Black Lives Matter movement during the second term of our first African-American President was becoming something that I needed to respond to artistically.”
“For Synchrony, I wanted to encapsulate the internal reality of being a black male watching these events in real time. My original intention was to simply write an instrumental work that expressed the idea of simultaneous realities intertwining. As I was writing the work I watched videos of the Eric Garner arrest, the Sandra Bland arrest, and Obama's speeches. I felt all of the emotions that many people feel when watching and hearing these events, and realized that I wanted the intensity of these experiences to be a part of the music, and in turn a part of the experience of listening to the music, without the listener being able to look away or change the channel or turn the music off.”
Jennifer Montbach, the founder of Radius Ensemble in Boston, thought of Holland first when the group was seeking to commission composers for their upcoming recording. She had worked with him in 2013 and gave him complete freedom to compose a piece on any subject. She says, “When Jonathan proposed Synchrony – exploring the concept of duality in music and in his own life – I was intrigued. The result is stunning, and his use of documentary audio fragments is deeply affecting. I think what is most special about the piece is that he makes a powerful statement without being polemical. Synchrony simply presents us with reality and uses music to underscore the contrast between hope and despair.”
Holland composed the work for five instruments and strove to reflect the duality of the music and racial relations in the pairing of the instruments and the way he weaved in the audio fragments. He says, “The duality is reflected in many ways: from the instrumentation and their possible combinations – oboe and bassoon, violin and cello, oboe and cello, violin and bassoon; to musical form and structure – call and response, imitation, repetition; to the external influences – black and white race relations, class relations within and between races, morality vs emotion, double standards of laws and socially accepted behavior, confronting symbols vs confronting ideology.”
Synchrony features four documentary audio clips using actual audio from President Barack Obama’s 2013 Inauguration speech, a recording from a bystander during Eric Garner’s 2014 incident which led to his death, the dash-cam recording from Sandra Bland’s traffic stop, and a speech given by actress Cicely Tyson at the 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards on BET.
A full live recording of the Radius Ensemble performing the work can be heard on YouTube (link below). Jonathan Bailey Holland opens the video (:25) with more background about composing Synchrony, and says the piece “leaves me with a general sense of unease…unresolved…it’s a piece that’s a commentary on the state of being at a particular time.”
Synchrony, performed in 2015 by Radius Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce4ifHYIgys
More info about Synchrony and Radius Ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLw39UH3d08
Audio Inclusions:
4:40 Inaugural Address by President Barack Obama "We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity." –President Barack Obama, January 21, 2013
5:15 "I can't breathe" –Eric Garner, July 17, 2014
6:55 "To the young women here tonight, the moment anyone tries to demean or degrade you in any way, you have to know how great you are. No one is going to bother to put you down if you were not a threat to them.” Cicely Tyson, 2015 Black Girls Rock Awards on BET, aired April 5, 2015
7:35, 8:17 Sandra Bland traffic stop
About Jonathan Bailey Holland:
A native of Flint, MI, composer Jonathan Bailey Holland earned a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University and studied composition with Ned Rorem at the Curtis Institute of Music. His works have been commissioned and performed by numerous orchestras, including the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Colorado, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, Minnesota, National, Philadelphia, San Antonio, Springfield, St. Louis, and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; as well as the Auros Group for New Music; the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble; Transient Canvas; Boston Opera Collaborative; Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia; Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies; Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestra; Orchestra 2001, and many others.
A recipient of a 2015 Fromm Foundation Commission at Harvard University, he has received honors from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, American Music Center, ASCAP, the Presser Foundation, and more. He has served as Composer-in-Residence for the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota (currently Vocal Essence); Ritz Chamber Players; Detroit and South Bend Symphony Orchestras; and the Radius Ensemble. His music has been recorded by the Cincinnati Symphony; the University of Texas Trombone Choir; trumpeter Jack Sutte; and flutist Christopher Chaffee. Upcoming recording releases are scheduled by the Radius Ensemble, and by pianist Sarah Bob. Recent highlights include the premiere of Equality for narrator and orchestra for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra featuring the poetry Maya Angelou, and the premiere of Forged Sanctuaries by Curtis on Tour, commissioned to commemorate the centennial of National Park Service. Holland is Chair of Composition, Theory and History at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and a founding faculty member in the Music Composition program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. He has also served as Professor of Composition at Berklee College of Music.
About Radius Ensemble: Radius Ensemble liberates classical music for a new generation of music lovers with a fresh combination of eclectic programming and intimate performances by extraordinary musicians. Named Boston’s Best Classical Ensemble 2016 by the Improper Bostonian, and winner of a 2013 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, Radius Ensemble’s thoughtfully curated programs balance old and new, with repertoire ranging from beloved masterworks to riveting new music – brilliantly performed by some of the best musicians in Boston. Nine core members comprise Radius Ensemble. They are joined by additional musicians as repertoire warrants.
A chamber music ensemble of winds, strings, and piano, Radius Ensemble was founded in 1999 by oboist and impresario Jennifer Montbach. Radius’s subscription season includes a four-concert series at Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, where the group has been Ensemble in Residence since 2011. Committed to community outreach, Radius presents a free Saturday-morning family concert in Harvard Square, and donates free tickets to disadvantaged children and their parents or mentors through local community service agencies.
jonathanbaileyholland.com
radiusensemble.org
Fresh Paint landing page: http://freshpaintcd.com/
Recording Jonathan Holland's Synchrony at WGBH: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLw39UH3d08
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