Explore the music of English composer George Holloway
I’m very excited that soprano Ying-Tzu Huang and pianist Chiu Hsing-Tzu will reprise their performance of my piece Songs of the Raccoon Dogs (Hokklo Folk Transcriptions) , alongside flautist Ming-Li Huang, at the T T Music Space on 19th January 2025. Ying-Tzu Huang has programmed the piece in her vocal portrait, which is part of T…Continue Reading “《自畫像》黃盈慈聲樂獨唱會– 作品演出，《貉獠之歌》：福佬歌謠 Songs of the Raccoon Dogs (Hokklo Folk Transcriptions)- forthcoming performance Jan.’25”
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)”
The Holloway Children’s Choir’s two competition performances at Llangollen were broadcast live on Llangollen TV: Children’s Folk category: Children’s Folk Choirs | Corau Alaw Werin i Blant Junior Children’s Junior Children’s Choirs | Corau Plant Iau After performing nine times at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, the choir began preparing for our Oxford concert on Monday…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir: Llangollen TV competition performances, Oxford and London Concerts (July 2019)”
The Holloway Children’s Choir toured the UK in July 2019. I founded the Holloway Children’s Choir in Tianjin, China, in January 2018. The choir aims to introduce Tianjin children to the European, and especially the British choral tradition both liturgical and secular, and to involve Chinese children in the joys of music-making and choir-singing. We…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir competes and performs at Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (July 2019)”
On the penultimate day of 2018, the Holloway Children’s Choir held a truly excellent concert to a sell-out audience at the Cathay Future Concert Hall, Tianjin. To see the programme of pieces we sang, scroll down to the bottom of the post for the poster (mostly in Chinese). Bolstered by our success applying for the…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir Winter Concert”
The Holloway Children’s Choir has had some fantastic news: we have been selected to compete in the Junior and Junior Folk competitions at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod next Summer! Info on the Eisteddfod can be found here: https://international-eisteddfod.co.uk/ I’m so proud of the children for this achievement, and I can’t wait to bring them to the…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir to Compete in the Llangollen International Eisteddfod 2019”
The Holloway Children’s Choir inaugural concert came after a term of very hard work from me and the children of the intermediate and advanced classes. They did a great job in spite of being slightly down on numbers (owing to my three week trip to the U.S., we had to organise the concert for…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir Summer Concert: Videos (July 2018)”
I finished my PhD at the University of Southampton in 2011, and passed the viva with minimal corrections in early 2012. It has been sitting on my computer (and in the Hartley Library at S’ton) all that time, and I thought I ought to put it up here, as it contains a lot of ideas…Continue Reading “PhD Portfolio and Commentary (2012)- download link”
The young, adventurous and talented Highfield Ensemble recently made a fantastic recording of my choral setting of a passage from Whitman’s Song of Myself. Sadly I couldn’t be there myself, but they were so sensitive to the score and detailed in their interpretation, that they didn’t seem to need my personal input at all. I can’t wait…Continue Reading “Highfield Ensemble recording of “I believe in you, my soul” SATB setting of Walt Whitman (Summer 2018)”
Some of you will already know that I’ve recently set up my own children’s choir in Tianjin, the Holloway Children’s Choir. We had our first rehearsals this weekend. Most of my students from the now defunct Mulan have come with me on this new journey! I’m looking forward to teaching them Sumer is icumen in,…Continue Reading “Holloway Children’s Choir- inaugural rehearsals (March 2018)”
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 worked with the director Cao Jing on her production of Sarah Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis in Summer 2015. I was so impressed by her imagination and talent, I was clear that I wanted to work with her on an improvised performance involving music, dance and theatre. This eventually became Ling, which we performed (each time utterly different)…Continue Reading “Ling 《灵》Improvised music, theatre and dance performance (2015/6)”
This vocal work sets the poetry of Li Po (Li Bai) in Chinese. The world premiere performance from my “Music for Voices” composer portrait concert in Southampton in 2012, was sung by English performers, and I did my best to coach them in the mandarin pronunciation (although of course Li Po’s own pronunciation is nothing…Continue Reading “Brief Journey (2007) for soprano, alto, erhu (or violin) and piano”
This wonderful song cycle for soprano and chamber ensemble by the American composer Lawrence Moss sets Chinese poetry in English translation. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzE2NDU1MzQ1Mg==.html?spm=a2hzp.8253869.0.0
Setting of P.B. Shelley’s poem of the same name. During the first of my two years in Beijing (2012-3), I did not have many opportunities to make music. I was in the wilderness somewhat with my Chinese language learning. This was a welcome opportunity to perform my own music, although it was admittedly terrifying playing…Continue Reading “Mutability (2013) for solo soprano and piano”
This song cycle was written for, and premiered by soprano Ruth Hopkins. A Spark Lights the Void Within was written in memory of Lydia Press. I wrote the texts of the three recitatives in the wake of Lydia’s passing away, and later chose the Cavafy and Shelley poems to accompany my own. Southampton University Strings premiered…Continue Reading “A Spark Lights the Void Within (2009) for soprano and string orchestra (or piano and double bass)”
My programme note on this piece from 2012: Ondas (“Waves”) sets a love poem by Federico Garcia Lorca. I was interested in the image of the “concentric waves” which the speaker says are like the waves in his heart when his beloved speaks. I wrote a sort of circular melody (the same melody, in fact…Continue Reading “Ondas (2006-7) for solo soprano”
Bird Songs (2007-9) “Fifty-Nine Swans” (Yeats) “Black Rook in Rainy Weather” (Plath) “The Hierarchies of Sound” (Evans) I’ve uploaded 3 performances of my song cycle for mezzo and piano, “Bird Songs”. Each time working on this song cycle from scratch with a different singer was extraordinarily fun, and a tremendous challenge and learning experience. I…Continue Reading “Bird Songs (2007-9) song cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano”
In my guise as tenor and opera performer, from 2010/2011:
Oxonia, performed by Music Visualisation Laboratory, Profsajungu Rumai, Vilnius, Lithuania, 18th September 2009, as part of the Vilnius European City of Culture 2009. http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzE2NDE2Nzc0MA==.html?spm=a2hzp.8253869.0.0