Mike Holober

Described as “one of the finest modern composer/arrangers of our time” by Downbeat Magazine, Mike Holober’s latest release, Mike Holober & The Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out (ZOHO Music, 2019) was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY® Award (Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album), and features two multi-movement suites inspired by the natural world: Hiding Out, which was commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (funded by the Pew Foundation), and Flow, which was commissioned by the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (funded by a NYSCA Individual Artists Grant).

The release of Hiding Out comes after a decade working with some of the worlds most renowned large ensembles. From 2007-2013 he served as Artistic Director/Conductor of the Westchester Jazz Orchestra (WJO), and from 2011-2015 he was Associate Guest Conductor of the hr-Big Band (Hessischer Rundfunk - Frankfurt, Germany). With WJO he has written and conducted for Joe Lovano, Kate McGarry, John Scofield, John Patitucci, Randy Brecker, and Paquito D’Rivera. Projects for the hr-Big Band include arranging and conducting concert length projects for Kurt Rosenwinkel, Billy Cobham, Jane Monheit, Terje Rypdal, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Miguel Zenon, and a concert of the works of Frank Zappa for the 2015 Frankfurt Jazz festival. With the WDR Big Band (WestDeutsche Rundfunk - Cologne, Germany) he has written and conducted projects for Avishai Cohen and Eli Degibri, and for legendary drummer Al Foster

. Other projects include arrangements for a concert featuring Eli Degibri with jazz orchestra and strings, which was performed at the National Opera House in Tel Aviv in 2014, as well as arrangements for a WDR concert featuring Joshua Redman, and a work for the Stockholm Jazz Orchestra’s recent recording. He has also written multiple works for OJM (Portugal) and pianist Fred Hersch.

Mike is a 2017-18 recipient of a Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Grant for Don’t Let Go, a song-cycle in the tradition of Robert Schumann, Samuel Barber, and Ralph Vaughn-Williams, which was premiered at Symphony Space (the Leonard Nimoy Thalia) in June 2018. Don’t Let Go was written for Mike’s jazz octet Balancing Act, whose eponymous premiere recording was released in 2015 (Palmetto). The recording features Mike’s original compositions and lyrics, with Kate McGarry, Dick Oatts, Jason Rigby, Marvin Stamm, Mark Patterson, John Hebert, and Brian Blade.

In 2017 Mike was named the inaugural Stuart Z. Katz Professor in the Humanities and the Arts at The City College of New York for This Rock We’re On: Imaginary Letters, an extended work in the form of an oratorio for jazz orchestra, voice, cello, and percussion. This in-progress work celebrates explorers, conservationists, writers, and photographers whose lives have been inspired by the natural world.

Mike can be heard as a sideman on over 70 recordings, and he has performed with/had his works performed and recorded by The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Zagreb JazzOrkestar, The Gotham Wind Symphony (where he is Composer-In-Residence), UMO, RTV Big Band Slovenia, The Airmen of Note, The Army Blues, The Tim Ries Rolling Stones Project, John Patitucci, Jason Rigby, Marvin Stamm, The Prism, American, and NY Saxophone Quartets, and many others.

Mike is a Full Professor at The City College of New York, and has enjoyed multiple artist residencies at The MacDowell Colony, The Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, The Ucross Foundation, and Yaddo. He also teaches composing and arranging at The Manhattan School of Music, and from 2007 - 2015 he served as Associate Director of the BMI Jazz Composer’s Workshop, (founded by legendary jazz composers Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam), where he taught with Director Jim McNeely.

Much of Mike’s music is inspired by the natural world, and by champions of that world. When he’s not at his beloved 1909 Steinway model C, he can be found somewhere on the trail.

Awards

MacDowell Fellow (2003-2006; 2009; 2020) Ucross Foundation Fellow (2007; 2019) Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2019) Corporation of Yaddo Guest (2005)

Gear

Steinway Pianos (Steinway artist)