Accomplished pianist to perform at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

Dr. Joseph_Holt

Holt has had a wide-ranging musical career as conductor, pianist, chamber music performer, arts administrator, educator and arranger. This is his third season as artistic director for Gloria Musicae, Sarasota’s professional choral ensemble.

Under his leadership the organization has grown and garnered accolades for its innovative programming and superior vocal quality. In the community of Sarasota, he is also artist in residence at Faith Lutheran Church and has appeared as pianist and conductor for the “Artist Series Concerts,” “Musical Mondays” at the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning, and with the Sarasota Orchestra. During the summer of 2011 he recruited and rehearsed a chorus comprised of singers from around southwest Florida for a special program in Sarasota commemorating the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

He made his conducting debut with the Sarasota Orchestra during these concerts at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in September, 2011. He served as Interim Artistic Director for the acclaimed Master Chorale of Tampa Bay in the Spring of 2010, preparing Elijah for performances with The Florida Orchestra and presenting an all-Broadway concert in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Holt served more than 20 years as principal pianist with The United States Army Chorus in Washington, D.C., performing for U.S. presidents, dignitaries from around the world and military officials. He also held the position of associate music director for The Choral Arts Society of Washington for 15 years.

As a pianist he has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Brahms award from Wolf Trap, and his appearances in recital and with orchestras in North America, Europe, and the Middle East have elicited acclaim from audiences and critics alike. In the Washington area he has performed at The National Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, the Organization of American States, and the Holocaust Museum, among others.

Unusual highlights of his musical career include coordinating and conducting the Filene Center Orchestra for a gala performance featuring premier comedian Victor Borge at Wolf Trap (a production still seen on public television today), compiling and directing the music for Prodigy, a children's play about Mozart at the Kennedy Center, performing with soprano Jessye Norman at the base of Hoover Dam, and assisting in the development of the National Music Conservatory in Amman, Jordan. While in Jordan, he participated in performances for King Hussein and Queen Noor at the Jerash Festival and in Amman. He also performed in Damascus, Syria as part of a United States Information Agency tour.

He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Shenandoah Conservatory and the Catholic University of America.

Holt will be performing: “Rondo in D Major, K. 485 by W.A. Mozart; “Ballade, Op. 118” and “Intermezzo, Op. 118” by Johannes Brahms; “Danzas argentinas (Danza del viejo boyero, Danza de la moza donosa and Danza del gaucho matrero)” by Alberto Ginastera; “First Arabesque” by Claude Debussy; “Polonaise in Ab major, Op. 53,” by Frederic Chopin, “Three Preludes” by George Gershwin; and the “Warsaw Concerto” by Richard Addinsell.