Author: Holland

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Meander: Taking a River for a Walk

Karen Brummund and I have an exhibition at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center during the month of May. The show has grown out of work we’ve been making with fourth grade students at Faucett-Vestavia Elementary School. The students have created drawings that explore ways to depict invisible things such as sounds and feelings.

I built custom drawing boards to record the sounds of the students’ drawing, and I incorporated the sounds in an 18-minute audio piece, Taking a River for a Walk. The work accompanies Brummund’s video piece, Meander; a collaborative mural on the window; and selections from the students’ drawings.

Meander: Taking a River for a Walk
Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center
Tuscaloosa AL

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Guitar Fest

The East Village Guitar Festival kicks off this weekend. The event will feature over 20 local and regional guitarists. On Friday I’ll be bringing my banjo/electric guitar hybrid to perform a set of improvisations similar to the pieces on my 2021 Tell A Gossip recording from Tape Drift Records. Also playing Friday will be Killick & Klimchak. Saturday’s event will feature Taylor Hollingsworth and Jupiter.

Friday and Saturday April 4-5 2025
East Village Guitar Festival
East Village Arts
7611 1st Ave N
Birmingham AL 35206

YouTube player

This event was originally scheduled for mid-March but had to be postponed due to weather. Read more at Bham Now and Birmingham365.

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Worldlines

Excerpt of the Worldlines score showing black music notation on a white background

The Vuorovesi Trio will perform my piece Worldlines in a free concert tonight at the Hoover Public Library.

Monday, March 24, 2025 7pm
Live on the Plaza: Vuorovesi Trio
Hoover Public Library
200 Municipal Drive
Hoover AL 35216

The Vuorovesi Trio is made up of University of Alabama School of Music faculty members Diane Boyd Schultz, Mary Lindsey Bailey, Osiris J. Molina. All the pieces on tonight’s concert are by Alabama-based composers: Michael Coleman, Monroe Golden, Gavin Green, Holland Hopson, Joseph Landers, and William Price.

Worldlines was premiered in 2017 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Abroms-Engel Institute for Visual Arts. It was written in response to Jessica Angel‘s installation Facing the Hyperstructure.

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Gravity Clocks

Close up of an electric guitar with a hand resting on top of it. The image has a shallow depth of field so the body of the guitar and the hand are the only elements in focus.

I’m looking forward to performing tomorrow on a concert highlighting free improvisation and electronic music. The show will include Sam Herman, Aaron Johnson, and LaDonna Smith.

Tuesday, March 18, 2025 7pm
An Evening of Free Improvisation and Electronic Music
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Hulsey Recital Hall
950 13th Street South
Birmingham AL

I’ll be performing material similar to the pieces on my 2021 Tell A Gossip recording from Tape Drift Records.

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Welcome Elkin

Jacob Elkin

Trombonist Jacob Elkin is coming to Alabama this week for two concerts featuring music by Alabama composers. The programs include the premiere of my piece By Wit and Reason, Which We Call Science for trombone and live electronics. The concerts are presented by the Birmingham Art Music Alliance and supported in part by the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Monday, February 17, 2025
Jacob Elkin: Music by Alabama Composers
Moody Recital Hall
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa AL

Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Loud at the Library: Jacob Elkin
Birmingham Public Library
Birmingham AL

By Wit And Reason, Which We Call Science is informed by the music of Renaissance composer John Dowland. The piece uses a custom microtonal scale similar to Dowland’s scheme for tuning the lute. The performer’s musical gestures and improvised variations drive the electronic sounds: extending pitches, shifting resonant frequencies and triggering repeated tones.