FOUR SUNDAY CONCERTS
May 10, 2009 - May 31, 2009
Jason Xanthoudakis saxophone and clarinet
Paul Goodchild Associate Principal Trumpet, Sydney Symphony
Elizabeth Hamilton flute
Chlöe Smith double bass
Gregory van der Struik Principal Trombone, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra
Jyoti Brunsdon writer/story-teller
PRESS RELEASE
Well-known in his home town as director of The Gallery Players, a group who have presented contemporary music events for over 20 years, Holley’s works have also been performed by the Sydney Symphony and the Queensland Orchestra. Regularly broadcast by the ABC, this will be the first time his virtuosic works will be heard live in Melbourne.
The series begins on Sunday, May 10 at 4 pm and features prominent Melbourne saxophonist Jason Xanthoudakis in three works, including the world premiere of King Street, inspired by fragments of sound Holley heard one summer evening from open doors in busy King Street, Newtown. The program includes flautist Elizabeth Hamilton and double bassist Chloe Smith with River Song and Dome Music and also writer/story-teller Jyoti Brunsdon.
The 4 pm series continues on May 17, 24 and 31, and features Paul Goodchild, Sydney Symphony Associate Principal Trumpet and Gregory van der Struik, Principal Trombone of Sydney’s Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, together with Xanthoudakis, Hamilton and Smith.
About Alan Holley
Sydney-born ALAN HOLLEY (b.1954) began composing in 1974. Regularly performed and broadcast in Australia since the mid-1970s, in the past decade Alan’s music has become increasingly well-known in America and Europe.
Compositions include the opera Dorothea (1988), five song cycles, and numerous works for small ensembles and solo instruments. Larger-scale compositions include Chamber Symphony (2003), The Winged Viola (2004) for solo viola and ensemble, together with the trumpet concerto Doppler’s Web (2005) and A Line of Stars (2007), both works commissioned and performed in the Concert Hall of the Opera House by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Keenly interested in instrumentation, Holley’s music is characterised by the exploration of intense textures, simple structures and melodic fragments. Holley also teaches trumpet and composition, and his flute and trumpet works are included in the Australian Music Examinations Board syllabus. EMI Australia have published two collections: Summer Bird and other pieces for trumpet and Birds of Opal and other pieces for flute. CDs of chamber and vocal music include Ophelia and Masquerade on the MBS label.
