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David Holzman, Adjunct Professor of Theory and Piano

David Holzman

Adjunct Professor of Theory and Piano

B.M. magna cum laude, Mannes College of MusicM.M., Queens College, CUNY

Description

Hailed as ‘a master pianist’ in The New Yorker, David Holzman has won acclaim both for his recitals and his recordings.  Among his honors are awards have been recording grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alice B. Ditson Fund and the Aaron Copland Foundation.  Commissioning grants have come from such organizations as Reader’s Digest-Meet the Composer and the New Jersey Council on the Arts.  He has focused much of his attention upon the masterpieces of the 20th and 21st Centuries and has been described as ‘The Horowitz of modern music’ in San Francisco Classical Voice for his electrifying performances.

An active lecturer, Holzman has introduced general audiences to complex and foreign styles.  His lecture on Ralph Shapey’s 21 Variations can be heard on the Art of the States Exploded View#2 (WGBH). His writing, covering all areas of music appear in major periodicals and as liner notes on his many recordings.

Website: www.battlemuse.com

Publications

  • On Performing Battle Piece. Pendragon Press
  • Shaping Shapey. Sonus Magazine
  • Musical Freefall:  Projecting the Time-space in Wolpe’s Battle Piece. Contemporary Music Review
  • Playing Piano with Hearing Loss. Cochlear Americas Blog

Lectures and Presentations

  • On Wolpe’s Battle Piece. Columbia University
  • Pianistic problems in Martino’s Pianississimo. New York University
  • On Messaien. Brooklyn College
  • The death motive in the Maxwell Davies Sonata. Philadelphia Art Alliance
  • Learning the Unlearnable. Darmstadt International Music Festival
  • On Tzvi Avni’s Epitaph. Rutgers University
  • American Piano Music. Tel Aviv University
  • Hearing Loss and Pianism. Amherst University

Recordings

  • Music of Wolpe, Greenbaum, Pleskow. CRI, 1986
  • Music of Maxwell Davies, Pleskow, Greenbaum. Centaur, 1990
  • Explorations (music of five composers). Centaur, 1994
  • Donald Martino, complete works in 2 CDs. Albany Records, 1995
  • Visions (music of Jewish composers). Albany Records, 1997
  • Wolpe: Compositions for Piano. Bridge Records, 2003 (Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Solo Performance (Without Orchestra), Indie Award for Best Classical CD, Deems Taylor Award for Best Liner Notes)
  • Music of Shapey and Sessions. Bridge Records, 2008
  • Wolpe: Compositions vol.2. Bridge Records, 2011
  • Music of Poul Ruders. Bridge Records, 2014
  • Music of Sessions vol.2. Bridge Records, 2015
  • Sonatas of William Bland. Bridge Records, release date December 2017
  • Music of John McDonald. Bridge Records, release date December 2017

Performances

  • 92nd Street Y. Sponsored by American Society of Jewish Music
  • Weill Recital Hall, League-ISCM Recital Series. Music of Rzewski, Maxwell Davies Rothman, Wolpe
  • Merkin Concert Hall. Music of Carter, Gustavson, Wolpe, Messaien
  • University of Utah. Milton Babbitt Festival
  • Miller Theatre (Columbia University). All-Martino program
  • Darmstadt International Music Festival. Two programs
  • Princeton University. Music of Sessions, Martino, Cornicello, others
  • Rutgers University. The Millennium Concerts   
  • United States Holocaust Museum
  • National Museum of the Diaspora. Tel Aviv
  • Tel-Aviv University. Lecture/Recital
  • Merkin Recital Hall. Sponsored by the New York Guild of Composers
  • Dom Music Center, Moscow
  • North/South/East/West Festival, Hawaii
  • Universidad Veracruzana Festival, Mexico. Solo Recital and duo recital
  • Temple University. Distinguished Artists Series
  • Arnold Schoenberg Center, Vienna. Sponsored by Orpheus Trust
  • Bargemusic Concerts. 2008, 2009, 2010
  • ICO Art Gallery in conjunction with exhibition  “COLLIDE”
  • Harvard University, The Pforzheimer Music Society. Music of Ran, Moe, Harbison, Bartok, Mamlok
  • Tinguely Museum, Switzerland. Music of Russian ‘Modernists’
  • Festival Klangwerktage, Hamburg
  • Spectrum, NY  concerts in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

Honors/Awards

See above

Films

  • A Good Dissonance Like A Man  (Wallace Shawn’s film bio of Charles Ives; performance of Violin Sonata)
  • David Holzman Records Passacaglia  (directed by Joelle Shefts)
  • David Holzman Performs Battle Piece  (sponsored by The Stefan Wolpe Society)