Explore the music of English composer George Holloway
On March 30th 2024, I was honoured to participate in the C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music, “Crossing Sounds”, both as a composer and a conductor. As the sole conductor for the festival, I had the chance to rehearse and conduct four world premieres, including my new work South of the Great Wall. The other works…Continue Reading “「跨響」-台北中央C國際當代音樂節：照片與媒體 C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music “Crossing Sounds”: photos and media (March ’24)”
I’m proud to share my edit of the premiere of South of the Great Wall here. It was a very intense festival, but I’m pleased with what we managed to do in two days of rehearsal (to prepare two complete concert programmes). I have edited the two camera views together, and mixed in some of the…Continue Reading ““SOUTH OF THE GREAT WALL”《城南荒原》- video of premiere performance at “Crossing Sounds” Festival, Taipei (March ’24)”
I’m excited to have my music featured in the C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music, “Crossing Sounds”: three concerts in one day at the legendary Forum Music Taipei, with performances from the Geori Ensemble (Korea), Gunnar Berg Salzburg and C-Camerata Taipei. This is the incredible promotional video of the festival: https://tungchaoming.wixsite.com/c-camerata From the C-Camerata Website:…Continue Reading ““South of the Great Wall” 《城南荒原》quintet version premiere at C-Camerata International Festival for Contemporary Music (March ’24)”
Festival Link: Die Pipa: Volksmusik aus Taiwan im Spiegel unserer Zeit Six months from conception to completion, South of the Great Wall (《城南荒原》) is one of my more ambitious works to date. I’ve made threee different versions: a duet for soprano and guitar, a trio for sheng, pipa and ‘cello, and a quintet for the…Continue Reading ““South of the Great Wall”- premiere at Passauer Saiten, Passau (March ’24)”
I wrote the open score piece flourishing as incidental music to be used in the “Crossover Music Theatre” performance, put on by Nanhua University Dept. Ethnomusicology at the All Nations Cinema, Dalin, Chiayi, Taiwan on Christmas Day 2022. 我寫了一首「開放樂譜」《欣欣向榮》作為配樂，用於南華大學民族音樂學系於2022年聖誕節在台灣嘉義大林萬國戲院上演的《樂舞串流》跨域音樂劇場表演。 It was performed by mixed Chinese and Western instruments. There was very little rehearsal time, I…Continue Reading “Crossover Music Theatre incidental music “flourishing” 樂舞串流：《欣欣向榮》(Dec. ’22)”
Over the last eighteen months I’ve been engaged in an ongoing project to familiarise myself with the ancient and charming instrumentarium of Chinese court ceremonial music, known as Yayue, a close ancestor of the Japanese gagaku. I’ve approached this from the point of view of first understanding the characteristic atmosphere of a traditional Confucian ritual,…Continue Reading “Yayue project update 雅樂項目更新: Three (More) Yayue for the Confucian “Capping Ceremony” 《三加禮》第二套 (Dec. ’22)”
I had a wonderful time with everyone at the TimeArt Studio, who premiered my piece (with me conducting) at Tunghai University in September. The performance had the added dramatic tension of knowing that just as the previous piece was ending, Taiwan experienced a sizeable earthquake that caused all the lighting rig and furniture to rattle! …Continue Reading “TimeArt Studio Premiere of “Walking by Willow Creek” at Tunghai University 時間藝術工作室：《漫步柳川》在東海大學之首演 2022.9.18″
藉由南華大學研發處的資助，本人已開始進行新的專題研究：“人工智慧作為作曲的輔助工具以及靈感的來源：探索機器學習的風格轉移在音樂創作中的運用之潛力”。 Supported by funding from the Nanhua University Research and Development Office, I’ve begun a new research project: “AI as a compositional aid and a source of inspiration: exploring the potential application of machine learning style transfer to musical creativity”. 我2022年1月應研究中心總監Emily Howard的邀請曾參觀英國皇家北英格蘭音樂學院的音樂與科技研究與實踐中心（PRiSM）。我在研究中心裡有機會了解到他們令人贊嘆的超級電腦「PRiSM sample RNN」的功能，並與學者討論它在輔助作曲上的可能性。我們有討論我初步的研究方向，並規劃進一步的討論。 In January 2022 I was invited by Emily Howard, director of…Continue Reading “人工智慧與作曲的研究項目（音樂與科技的研究與實踐中心 2022年1月參觀）AI in Musical Composition Research Project: visit to PRiSM research centre (Jan.’22)”
My new nine-minute quartet for zhonghu, guzheng, alto saxophone and tuned percussion (marimba doubling vibraphone), titled Moon, has been selected in the latest call for works of the Taiwan Branch of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM). It will receive its premiere in the 2022 edition of the Taipei International New Music Festival. For…Continue Reading “New work “Moon” selected for inclusion in 2022 Taipei International New Music Festival (Oct. 2021)”
My recent posts are all a little out of order: I’ve just finished re-editing the videos of a performance from May with the students and professors at Nanhua Ethnomusicology. I was invited to make two arrangements of Buddhist songs celebrating the Buddha’s birthday for the combined forces of the department’s western and Chinese orchestras and…Continue Reading “Songs for the Buddha’s Birthday (performance of song arrangements for western and Chinese orchestras and choir) (2021.5.8)”
I’ve been working with the talented Zheng Yang for almost two years now; I have given her so many drafts of this piece! With all the struggles to make my musical ideas playable on the sheng, complete with meticulously bar-by-bar solving of near intractable fingering problems, we’re nearing the full premiere of “Sculpture in Melody”…Continue Reading “Sculpture in Melody for traditional solo sheng 《线性雕塑》，为传统笙而作(2015-6) – forthcoming premiere taster!”
In January 2018, Tianjin International TV made a documentary about my life and work as composer, conductor and teacher in Tianjin. 在中国的朋友们，欢迎你们打开以下的链接观看天津国际频道Hello!天津的纪录片： http://tv.cntv.cn/video/VSET100183082927/35c76b659ddb4ad294aa3d03e454801f?from=timeline&isappinstalled=0 The full documentary: I’ve made a shorter edited version: Unfortunately it’s in Chinese! Apologies to my non-Chinese-speaking friends, but I encourage you to take a look anyway, as it’s beautifully shot!
You can see the documentary Tianjin International TV made about my rehearsals with the delightful Mulan Children’s Choir on this project here: Tianjin International TV: Hello! Tianjin documentary http://georgehollowaycomposer.com/?p=521 July 2018: Update I’ve got the videos of the three performances up online, you can see them here: For people in China, youku links below: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzcwNDY1OTk4NA==.html…Continue Reading “Opera for Children’s Choir: Cao Chong Weighs the Elephant 童声歌剧：曹冲称象 （2017）”
I wrote this piece for 13 performers (all Chinese instruments, including 2 percussionists playing Chinese percussion) for the TJCM 2015 May Music Festival. It was premiered by the Fan Yin Chinese instrument ensemble. The suona player plays from three different positions, at first from behind the audience, then in the middle of the audience, and…Continue Reading “Iceflow IV (2014) for Chinese instrument ensemble (13 players)”