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James E. Holdman
composer
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UPCOMING EVENTS

Sun 07 May 2023
The Waves Cabaret     7-9pm
Center for Performing Arts, 3754 Pleasant Ave S, Mpls, MN
Poetry and new/improvised music featuring poets Emily August, Haley Lasché, and Joe Hall with musicians James Holdman, Jeff Johnson, Mike Ethen, Pat O'Keefe, Patti Cudd, Philip Blackburn and Terrance J. Fischer. Doors at 6:30pm. $10.


01 Dec 2022
Push the Boat Out - new CD!
Now released on major streaming platforms and for digital download. Newly-composed instrumental music for electric guitar, a jazz/rock/soul/pop kind-of-a-deal. Hard copies available for just $10. Email me.

 push the boat out





SOME PAST EVENTS


Sep 2022
More Earth Life: How to Live Here
East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier, St. Paul, MN (map)
Improvising from Todd Harper's Visual Intuitive Scores, I will be joining Todd, Douglas Ewart, Laura Harada, and Nicholas Christenson. Todd's scores are on display in the library and will be brought out one-by-one for us to interpret. On the front lawn.

International Bazaar Stage, Minnesota State Fair
Bato Bato!, Breck School's marimba group premieres Emu Paradise, composed especially for the ensemble, as part of their set.

Sun 03 July 2022
The Waves - Poetry and Music Cafe
at the Center for Performing Arts, 3754 Pleasant Ave S, Mpls (38th St entrance). 5-8pm, $10.
An evening of poetry and new music, surprise, and active creation. Casual, come and go as you like. Food and drink available. Masks required indoors. This is a monthly event (except August)!

Nov 2021
Marimba Bullies
at Fridays in the Valley Chamber Music Series, Golden Valley, MN.

Apr 2021
Improvisation in the Orchard at TroutSongs, St Paul.

2018 - 2019
Marimba Bullies  in the parks and elsewhere!

Jun 2017
Marimba Bullies with the Zimbabwean band Mokoomba at the Cedar Cultural Center, Mpls.

Apr 2017
earWorm Improv Ensemble shows in the Twin Cities area.

Feb 2017
Music for Prometheus Bound at Normandale Community College's Fine Arts Theater by James Holdman, Tim O'Keefe, and David Lake..

Mar 2016
earWorm Improv Ensemble East Coast Mini-Tour: Bristol RI, Providence RI, and Cambridge MA celebrating the release of our 5th CD "A Road to Everywhere."

Jan 2016
Marimba Bullies at the Minnesota Percussion Association's annual Day of Percussion, Rosemount, MN. See videos of the performance here and here.

Nov 2015
Marimba Bullies at Zeitgeist’s 7th Annual New Music Cabaret, Studio Z, St. Paul, MN.

Sept 2015
The earWorm Improv Ensemble performances in the Twin Cities.

Summer 2015

Marimba Bullies all over the place.

May 2015

Performance of Astrid's Granny, Shade Birds, and Turtle in Mukluks for 5-octave marimba and four players by the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point Percussion Ensemble.

Apr 2015
Performance of Lament for piano (from Darwin's Folly) by Dr. Stanley Rothrock at Inver Hills Community College, Inver Grove Heights, MN.

Feb 2015
Performances with Encore Wind Ensemble (on electric bass).

Autumn 2014
Holed up in Istanbul studying Turkish music (bağlama and darbuka). My blog, the Bosphorus Bystander is still available for perusal, with images and sounds from the streets of Istanbul.

Jul 2014
Marimba Bullies at the 21st Annual Worthington International Festival, Worthington, MN

May 2014
Struck Percussion Ensemble encores Haunted House, a commissioned work for seven percussionists to accompany Segundo de Chomon's experimental 1908 silent film. See the performance here. Also included in the concert: Pawnshop Dice (for six of any percussion and two players) and Overlooked... Declared World's Oldest (for two drumsets).

Feb 2014

Performance of Pope Bites Scorpion for two pianos by RenegadeEnsemble.

Jan 2014
Premiere of Haunted House to accompany Segundo de Chomon's experimental 1908 silent film The Haunted House commissioned and performed by Struck Percussion Ensemble. Struck also premiered Shade Birds for five-octave marimba, and Seven Years of Unclouded Happiness for percussion ensemble in this all-Holdman concert.

Nov 2013
earWorm performances of improvised electroacoustic music in the Twin Cities.

Oct 2013

Premiere of Pope Bites Scorpion for two pianos by RenegadeEnsemble.

Aug 2013
Performance with the Arabic Music Retreat Orchestra and A. J. Racy's Chamber Group,  Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA.


May 2013
Premiere of A Gondola Evades Us for piano and percussion performed by Zeitgeist. Made possible by the Zeitgeist Commissioning Collective.

Life's a Picnic, Music by 2012 McKnight Composer Fellow Viv Corringham. Performed by Heather Barringer (percussion), Viv Corringham (voice), Nick Gaudette (bass), James Holdman (guitar), Michelle Kinney (cello) & Pat O'Keefe (clarinet).
 
Marimba Bullies at the Hosmer World Music Concert Series, Hosmer Library, Minneapolis.

Apr
2013
Premiere of Pawnshop Dice for plastic bottles and two percussionists at the American Composers Forum Salon Series. With David Birrow.

Mar 2013
Deep Midnight performs Greek rembetika at the Hosmer World Music Concert Series, Hosmer Library, Minneapolis.

Feb 2013
Keys Please (Three Generations of Piano Stories), special guest with pianist-composers Carei Thomas, Todd Harper and Paul Cantrell for their 12th annual new music event, The Mystery of Keys Please.

Dec 2012
Premiere of Water for mandolin and fixed media, Inver Hills Community College, Inver Grove Heights, MN.

Oct 2012
Composer-in-Residence for the Classical Mandolin Society of America 2012 national convention in Minneapolis.

Sep 2012
Performance with Brett Warchow and Zac Crockett at the Concert of Live Improvisation for the fourth annual Kyma International Sound Symposium.

Aug 2012
Performance with the Arabic Music Retreat Orchestra and Bassam Saba's Chamber Group,  Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA.


Apr 2012
Premiere of Lunch with a Nun for vibraphone and guitar at the American Composers Forum Salon Series, at Zeitgiest's Studio Z. David Birrow, vibes.

earWorm performances in the Twin Cities area.

Sep 2011
Selections from the Greek rembetika repertoire with Viv Corringham (vocals) and myself on Greek bouzouki at Dreamland Arts, St. Paul, MN.

June-July 2011
Guerilla performances by the Marimba Bullies at city lakes.

May-Jun  2011
Acousmatic music for The Hole of Lament, a part of "Refreshments" at Open Eye Figure Theatre, Mpls. Music loosely based on Balinese gamelan.

May 2011
earWorm performances in Minneapolis, MN, celebrating the release of our fourth cd Angels of Area 51, with guest saxophonist Peter Farmer.

April 2011
earWorm performances in Norman, Oklahoma, celebrating the release of our third cd You're Not Larry.

Performance of  An "Ism" Jib for guitar and African percussion at the American Composers Forum Salon Series, at Zeitgiest's Studio Z.

Northern Latitudes Mandolin Quartet and the Marimba Bullies performances at the Benefit Concert for Youth Experiencing Homelessness at the Cedar Cultural Center, Mpls.

Oct 2010 
Premiere of  
An "Ism" Jib for guitar and African percussion. Performed by Anthony Titus (guitar) and Andrew Martin (percussion).

Sept 2010
earWorm at the eighth annual SPARK Festival of Electronic Music and Art in Minneapolis... in the Love Power building! (plus other choice Twin Cities performances).

Aug 2010
Performance with the Arabic Music Retreat Orchestra and Issa Boulos' Chamber Group,  Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA.

Performances with the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra and the Northern Latitudes Mandolin Quartet.

May 2010
Premiere of A Thick, Full Set of Cheeky Hinge for clarinet and 'ud at the American Composers Forum Salon Series, Zeitgeist's Studio Z, St. Paul. Mary Beth Huttlin, clarinet.

April 2010
earWorm gigs in the the Twin Cities vicinity.

Release of Artificial Teeth and Limbs, earWorm's second CD on Vermiphone Records.

Mar 2010
earWorm performance at University of Indiana East "Hear and Now" lecture and concert series, Richmond, IN.

Feb 2010
Sally's Flag Empire at the MCBA 2010 Book Artist Award reception for Chip Schilling at Open Book, Mpls. With Pat O'Keefe, Josh Granowski and Nick Zielinski.

Universal Homeland + Gobrosis at Heart for Haiti: A Benefit Concert at the Ordway McKnight Theatre, St Paul.

Jan 2010
Performances in People of the Book (the song, the dance, and the picture) at Theatre Or at Sabes JCC with Alex Lubet, Guerino Mazzola, and Nick Zielinski (quartet aka Universal Homeland), with Hmong hip-hop duo Gobrosis.

Performance with the University of Chicago Middle East Music Ensemble at the International House, Chicago, IL.

Premiere of  High Gain Small Grain for piano, vibes, and percussion by the Renegade Ensemble, Mpls, MN.

Dec 2009
earWorm performance at the International Society for Improvised Music Fourth Annual Conference, University of California Santa Cruz, and at  SubRosa, Santa Cruz, CA.

Oct 2009
Twin Cities earWorm performances.

Sep 2009
Performance of Maddy's Eaten a Little Humus Again for found materials percussion quartet (including percussionists David Birrow, Adam Rappel, and Ryan Billig). View a video of the performance here.

Aug 2009
Performance with the Arabic Music Retreat Orchestra and  Simon Shaheen's Chamber Group,  Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA. (My involvement at the 2009 Arabic Music Retreat was supported in part through subito, the quick advancement grant program of the American Composers Forum).

earWorm interview (and music!) on KFAI-FM 's Collective Eye with Janis Lane Ewart.

Performances with the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra.

May 2009
earWorm at the Michiana Improvisational Music Festival XIX  Indiana University, South Bend, IN,

earWorm CD release party and concert at J & J Winery  Richmond, IN (sponsored by Indiana University East).

Premiere of  Don't Call Me Norman for bass clarinet, piano and vibes performed by Zeitgeist, St. Paul, MN.

Feb 2009
Performance in the wiimote ensemble for composer Doug Geers' Sweep, with violinist Maja Cerar and percussionist Fernando Meza at the Cedar Cultural CenterSPARK Festival of Electronic Music and Arts.

  
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