British born clarinetist Jonathan Holden received his BM and MM degrees from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Joy Farrall, Andrew Webster and celebrated recording artist Dame Thea King. He earned his DMA from Michigan State University where he studied with Dr. Elsa Verdehr.
An experienced orchestral clarinetist, Holden has performed with groups such as the Louisiana, Fort Wayne and Orlando Philharmonic orchestras, the Grand Rapids, Baton Rouge and Mobile symphony orchestras and the Sarasota Orchestra. He is Principal Clarinetist of the West Michigan Symphony.
Holden made his concerto debut at the age of seventeen and has since performed concertos by Mozart, Copland, Weber, Zwilich, Ellerby and James David in Britain, Israel and the United States. He has appeared as a guest of the Degas, Ciompi and Voxare string quartets and by invitation of the National Flute Association, International Clarinet Association, British Clarinet Congress, College Music Society, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Festival Contempoaneo (Brazil) and Alfredo de Saint Malo Festival (Panama), among others. He has performed in chamber series’ such as Chamber Music Wilmington, the American Music Festival, Chamber Music at The Block, Festival South, and the Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck. Holden has given performances and master classes at over 50 colleges and universities in the US and overseas including Vanderbilt, Michigan State and Northwestern universities, the national conservatories of Panama, Paris and Brazil, and the universities of Oklahoma, Montana, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, and North Texas.
A proponent of new music, Holden’s work with the Argot Trio (violin, clarinet and piano) produced new works by James Sclater, Luigi Zaninelli and Alan Theisen, among others, which can be heard on the album Mostly Mississippi (Centaur Records). The trio has also recorded music by Steven Holochwost (Albany) and William Bergsma (Centaur). The Holden-Olin Duo (flute and clarinet) premiered Fluteball by Ricardo Lorenz at ClarinetFest 2016, gave the international premiere of Pierre Jalbert’s Triple Set at ClarinetFest 2017, and continues to commission new music. Holden’s forthcoming solo compact disc, Notes from Home (Centaur), features clarinet music from the British Isles.
Jonathan Holden is Assistant Professor of Clarinet at Florida State University and teaches in summer at New England Music Camp.
