Robin Holcomb

Pianist, composer, singer and songwriter Robin Holcomb has performed extensively in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia as a solo artist and the leader of various ensembles. Living in the Lower East Side of New York in the 1980s, she was a founder of Studio Henry, a venue for maverick composers, and the New York Composers Orchestra. Living in Seattle since 1989, she continues to compose and record songs and music for solo piano, chamber ensembles, dance, theatre and film.

Pianist, composer, singer and songwriter Robin Holcomb has performed extensively in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia as a solo artist and the leader of various ensembles. Living in the Lower East Side of New York in the 1980s, she was a founder of Studio Henry, a venue for maverick composers, and the New York Composers Orchestra. Living in Seattle since 1989, she continues to compose and record songs and music for solo piano, chamber ensembles, dance, theatre and film.

Her most recent recording is John Brown’s Body (Tzadik), a collection of solo piano compositions, a string quartet and duets and trios with Eyvind Kang, Steve Moore and Dave Carter. Solos (Songlines) features solo piano music by Robin Holcomb and Wayne Horvitz, performed by the composers. On the Nonesuch label, The Big Time (2002) is a collection of original songs and arrangements of songs from the Anthology of American Folk Music. Also on Nonesuch, Little Three (1996) is a solo recording of piano music and songs, preceded by Rockabye (1992) and Robin Holcomb (1990). Earlier recordings of instrumental music include Larks, They Crazy and Todos Santos, both on the German Sound Aspects label. Other recording projects include appearances on Bill Frisell’s landmark Nashville recording and contributions to Burt Bacharach, Serge Gainsbourg and Mississippi Sheiks tribute compilations. Ms. Holcomb is frequently invited to perform in the multi-artist tribute concerts produced by Hal Willner and Janine Nichols, including Came So Far For Beauty: The Music of Leonard Cohen, Shock and Awe: The Music of Randy Newman, The Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited and The Doc Pomus Project.

Her work has been called “remarkable” (CMJ), “stunning” (Option), “entrancing” (Billboard) and “sensitive, descriptive, adventuresome and full of soul” (Washington Post). “Hers is an unsettling, utterly original vision.” (Entertainment Weekly) According to The New York Times: “Ms. Holcomb has done something remarkable here: she has created a new American regionalism, spun from many threads --country, rock, minimalism, Civil War songs, Baptist hymns, Appalachian folk tunes, even the polytonal music of Charles Ives. The music that results is as elegantly simple as a Shaker Quilt, and no less beautiful.”